Team RWBYZ
by Theboblinator
Summary: We all know of what transpired for Team RWBY during their first semester at Beacon, as well as most of their second. However, what if there happened to be a fifth member of the group? And what if he had a troubling past, that separated him from almost all his peers, except for the two half-sisters, Ruby and Yang? Well, time at Beacon would probably get crazier...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: New School, Same Personality**

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 **Author's Note Part 1: Alright… So, I've now gotten sucked into the series that is RWBY… Yeah, I'll admit that I never saw myself writing out a story for this series, but after watching the two Volumes that are currently out, I'd be lying if I said that writing out a story with an extra OC added into the series wouldn't be interesting for me. Now, I've probably re-written this Author's Note (and a bit of the first chapter) around five times now, trying to best implement my character. And I'll admit this much… I'm still not sure if I've done the best job.**

 **First my idea was to implement a different team that included two people, then I went on to my second idea, which was extremely similar to the first, only I changed the characters to be more like characters in video games, then I stemmed off _that_ and ended up making the story an actual crossover, and you can see how it went up until now. So, with all the craziness that's happened, I'm really hoping that I've done a good job with this newest idea.**

 **Basically, I got this idea that you're currently looking at after reading the story "Reiteration", which basically added a new character to Team RWBY, making it Team RWEBY instead. So, going off that idea (adding an extra character to the team), I'm hoping that I won't run into the difficulties that I have for the past few attempts. But, one can only hope, right?**

 **However, that's not to say that I'm not gonna take ideas from my past attempts. This will still have attributes from them, the main one being the character that I'm adding. Now, "Z" was going to be one of the first characters that I was going to write in, and I've only taken out Sean. Basically, my first idea was to write it out where there was a team ZeuS. However, I'm making Zach like he was in my second version, pairing and all. So, you guys will get a little overview of him at the end of the chapter. Oh, some of you guys will probably see an interesting way that I write out Zach, so if you do, please don't mention it in the reviews since I want to keep it a surprise for the people that don't know yet.**

 **Also, something you guys should know about this. It's gonna be my first fanfiction where I _slightly_ , and I stress _slightly_ , stray from canon at certain points. For example, in this chapter, you'll see that Zach changes events for Ruby and Weiss's first meeting, and thus, the events that happen until initiations between the two.**

 **But, since I've already wasted almost 500 words on an Author's Note, I guess that I'll just let you guys get to reading. So, here's the first chapter of my RWBY fanfiction!**

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 **(Voice for Zach: Micah Solusod (American voice actor for Soul from the "Soul Eater" anime)**

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 **Zach's POV:**

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 _Just stay away from everyone Zach… See if you can't find Yang, and maybe you'll get through the rest of this with less trouble..._ I think to myself as I walk amongst the groups of shades within the airship that everyone is taking to Beacon. I can see the whispering shades all about, some turning in my direction. Why do I say shades you might ask? Because that's all they are. Black silhouettes of people, who would be there, but aren't… Yes, I will be breaking the fourth wall constantly. Live with it.

Anyways, as I continue walking, I pull my hood over my head a bit more in an attempt to block myself off from the people around me. My current outfit consists of black combat boots that reach up to my mid-calf area, partially covering my blue jeans. I also have a white, button-up T-shirt on at the moment, which is mostly covered by my zip-up grey hoodie, which is partially unzipped to show the white T-shirt underneath. Hell, this isn't even my entire outfit. But, I don't want to give another reason for the shades to stare at me.

Now, you might be wondering just _why_ it is that the shades around me are all whispering and looking at me… Well, seeing as I have Caucasian skin, blue-grey eyes, and brown hair that's styled to look completely messy underneath my hood, the people around here aren't staring at me because I look different. Instead, let's just say that it has to do with my Semblance and leave it at that, okay? I'm sure you'll find out about it soon enough… But, my Semblance aside, I manage to finally find the person that I've been searching for when I walk through one of the many wooden doors present on this airship. Yang Xiao Long is currently in the process of hugging her little sister Ruby Rose to death, if the purple in Ruby's face is anything to go by anyways… Though, it _does_ confuse me as to why Ruby's here, since I thought that due to her still being 15, she would still be attending Signal.

"Please, stop." I hear Ruby groan as her sister continues to hug the life out of her, Yang eventually releasing her a few seconds later.

"But I'm so proud of you~~~!" The blond girl exclaims with what I assume is a smile, since she's currently facing her sister, and thus has her back to me. However, Ruby simply lets off a sigh at her sister's words.

"Really, sis, it was nothing." She tells Yang, making me raise one of my eyebrows in confusion and interest as I continue to walk towards them, neither one of them noticing me since Yang is still looking at her sister, while Ruby is focused on Yang.

"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is gonna think you're the bee's knees!" Yang exclaims, looking around the room with her arms held out, probably for emphasis on what she's telling her sister. When she does this, her eyes widen slightly when she notices me. "Zach!" She exclaims, making Ruby look at me as well. I simply give them a small smile in response.

Now, if the three of us were alone, and no one else was around, I would probably be a lot more vocal, and more outgoing with how I actually feel seeing them again. However, since Yang's exclamation drew a bit of attention from the shades around us, I simply raise one of my hands in a nervous greeting. However, when I do this, Yang frowned, reached over, and pulled me over to stand beside her. "Come on Zach, why the shyness? You've known us for how long?" She asks, a small smile making its way onto her face. I simply give her a small frown of my own in response.

"I've known you two for about three years now Yang." I reply in a slightly quieter voice, before pulling my hood a bit more over my face. Unfortunately, Yang notices, and immediately turns to look at the shades all around us, noticing their stares and sending them all a glare with her no-doubt now-red eyes. In response, all the shades around us turn around and pretend to not be looking at us... Well, they stop looking at _me_. I sigh at this, before turning to Ruby. "So, Ruby, I thought that you were still at Signal." I say, trying to get away from the fact that I'm still uncomfortable with all the shades around us. However, Yang is the one to respond for her sister.

"Ruby here just got bumped up to Beacon with us! I mean, aren't you guys excited?!" She asks me with a wide smile, her eyes that beautiful violet once again… Yes, I like Yang. Heck, we're practically together at this point in time, though we're still pretty much in the… "Flirting" stage since we don't really get all the much time away from all the nameless people who hate me. And when we do… Well, let's just say that we make the most of it and leave it at that. But, our relationship aside, Ruby simply sighs at her sister's words.

"Of course I'm excited Yang, it's just…" The red cloaked girl trials off and gives another sigh. "I got moved ahead _two years_. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything." Ruby admits with a slightly sad look in her silver eyes. However, Yang walks over to her sister and puts an arm around her shoulders with a small smile on her face.

"But you _are_ special." Yang tells her sister, but before anything else can be said about the topic, one of the holo-screens inside the "room" that we're in starts to play a newscast, and the three of us turn to look at it.

"The robbery was led the notorious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale police department. Back to you Lisa." The three of us continue to watch the newscast, and I let off a quiet sigh when it starts to go on about the White Fang, and how they'd interrupted a civil rights movement for the Faunus. I'd heard that the organization had once been extremely peaceful, but a while back they'd started to take more violent actions. However, before the story on the White Fang can continue, the holo-screen is replaced by a hologram of a woman that I'd read about in the pamphlet to Beacon.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon." She tells the three of us, as well as all the shades around us.

"Who's that?" Yang asks us, and just as I'm about to answer, the woman inadvertently does so herself.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch." She tells us.

"Well, there's your answer Yang." I say with a small smile, the fact that all the shades are now focused on the woman and not on me also helped to bring out the more "normal" side of me.

"You are among the privileged few who have had the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an _incredible_ time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it." She tells us, getting smiles from the three of us, and what I can assume are smiles from the shades all around us.  "You have demonstrated the _courage_ needed for such a task. And now, it is _our turn_ to provide _you_ with the knowledge, and the training to protect our world." She announces, before her hologram fades out, and all the shades look out the windows to the city below while Ruby rushes forwards to place her hands on the glass and do the same with a large smile on her face.

"Look! You can see Signal from here." She tells us, me and Yang walking over to stand beside her as Yang places a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I guess home isn't too far after all." Ruby admits with a small smile on her face, Yang giving her an identical one.

"Beacon's our home now." She tells her sister, before looking over at me and giving me a wink. "That _also_ means that we won't have to worry about Dad being overprotective." She says, making me give a small chuckle at the fact that she's basically telling me she _won't_ be holding back when we're able to be alone, and making Ruby's face turn almost as red as her cloak.

"Ya~~~~ng!" She exclaims in embarrassment, making her sister laugh in response, before the three of us hear the sound of someone about to puke, and turn to see a blond haired male turning away from the windows and making his way past us with a hand over his mouth to keep in any vomit that may come out as he attempt to get away from the sight.

"Well, I guess the view isn't for everyone." Yang tells us, making me shrug as I place my hands inside the pockets in the front of my hoodie, a small smirk making its way onto my face since the shades all around us are focused on the blond who's still trying to make his way towards a trash barrel of some sort to deposit his lunch. "Anyways, I wonder who we're gonna meet. Besides past friends like you that is." She says to the two of us, the last part said to me with another wink. Ruby still has a tint of red in her cheeks from embarrassment, but manages to shake her head and get rid of it before giving off a sigh.

"I just hope they're better than Vomit Boy." The red cloaked girl says, before looking down at her sister's shoes, making me follow her gaze to the blonde's boots, which have small specks of green on one of them, no doubt from the guy's failed attempts at holding the puke in his mouth, a trail of similar green specks along the ground cementing my theory. "Oh, Yang, gross! You've got puke on your shoe!" She exclaims, making Yang look down at her boots as well, before she starts to shake them a bit in order to rid them of the offending substance with a disgusted look on her face.

"Gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-gross-!" Yang continues to complain about the puke on her shoes, while Ruby attempts to get away from her sister as vomit starts to fly off her boot as she shakes it.

"Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!" Ruby yells at the same time that Yang continues to yell "Gross!", making me laugh a bit off to the side, though not very loudly since the two are drawing attention to themselves, and since I'm standing next to them, people are also looking at me as well.

 _I've got to find a way to get over my people problem…_ I think to myself with a frown, making sure my hoodie is once again blocking the entirety of my face from being seen. _But with how it started, and the fact that all the people here_ know _about me… I have a feeling it's gonna be a while before I'm able to act "normal" in public._ I think to myself with a mental sigh as the large airship we're in continues to make its way towards Beacon.

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A few minutes later, the large aircraft docks, and the three of us, along with the shades around us, make our way towards the exit ramp that will lead us to Beacon. As we pass by Vomit Boy, I give him a few pats on the back. Both to help him get rid of any lingering puke, as well as for reassurance that he'll be alright. Hey, he actually has color. So, being nice to my fellow Main Characters will help out in the long run… At least, as long as they're not the kind of Main Character that's present to be the bully. Otherwise, I'm sticking with my friends and beating their ass when the time comes.

Anyways, after we exit the large aircraft, the three of us pause to get our first good look at Beacon. And I've gotta admit, it's _definitely_ a nice place just from the first glance. And after what I read in the pamphlet, I'd also have to say that it will be a nice place to stay. Currently, I'm still wearing the same clothes as I was on the ship, but now I'm dragging my suitcase with me, which has my other clothes inside, as well as my weapon. As we continue to look at the large academy, Yang crosses her arms under her breasts and leans against my side, myself smirking since the shades of people had all passed by the three of us.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this." She tells us, and I give a nod of agreement in response to the blonde beauty. However, my good mood quickly vanishes when more shades start to walk by us, and I make sure that my hood is covering my face still, before one shade passes by, and Ruby changes into a flat, Chibi version of herself as she floats in mid-air, her eyes changing into shining, yellow, diamond-shaped stars as she lets off a loud gasp.

"Sis! Zach! That kid's got a collapsible staff!" She exclaims as she floats in mid-air, pointing to one shade in particular, before floating off to the side as her eyes go back to being silver, and she points to another shade. "And she's got a fire sword!" She exclaims after clinging to Yang's arm, and then starts to float off towards the girl in question. However, her sister quickly reaches over, and grabs onto Chibi-Ruby, said girl changing back to normal as she's dragged back to us by her cloak's hood. "Ow! Ow!"

" _Easy_ there little sister. They're just weapons." Yang says with a small shrug. Although, Ruby's face gains a look of shock on it at her sister's comment.

" _Just_ weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of _us_!" Ruby exclaims as she gestures towards the multiple shades walking around with their weapons in hand, before Ruby brings her arms back to her chest as she bounces a little in place with a smile on her face. "They're so cool!" She exclaims, making Yang speak up again, myself staying silent through this conversation due to the multiple shades walking around the area that we're in.

"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?" Yang asks her sister, making Ruby extend her giant, mechanical sniper-scythe and rest it over her shoulder.

"Of course I'm happy with **Crescent Rose** …I just, really like seeing new ones." She tells her sister as she brings her weapon off her shoulder, and holds it in her right hand as she turns to face Yang. "It's like meeting new people… But better." She tells her sister, muttering the last part as she turns away and looks at the ground with a slightly dejected look. If I had problems with getting to know people due to an… Incident, that happened earlier on in my life thanks to my Semblance, then Ruby just didn't know how to interact with people in _general_. However, Yang wouldn't let this stand, and gives her younger sister a light chuckle.

"Ruby, come on." She says with a smile, bringing her little sister's hood over Ruby's head. "Why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?" She asks.

"But, why do I need friends when I have you and Zach?" She asks. Yeah, let me explain why it is that she's not referring to me as a friend. See, Yang is Ruby's half-sister. Since me and her are practically dating at this point, just not yet due to reasons mentioned before, Ruby has started to look at me as more of an older brother figure. So, because of this, I'm not longer Ruby's "best friend" but instead her older sister's "boyfriend", and/or Ruby's "older brother". You get it? Good. Anyways, after Ruby asks her older sister this question, Yang stops leaning against me and backs up a bit as she raises her hand.

"Well, actually-my-friends-are-here-now-gotta-go-catch-up-kay-c'ya-bye!" She yells to us in an extremely fast voice, before her and the group of shades that surrounded her go running off, leaving me to shrink in on myself a bit, while Ruby is left twirling due to the speed that the group passed her as she stumbles.

"Wait! Where are you going?! Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?... I don't know what I'm doing." Ruby says after none of her questions are answered as her sister and her "friends" go running off. I say "friends" because they were all shades, and thus had no reason for being here other than this once.

However, this all goes through my mind in the time of a couple seconds, which allows me to see Ruby falling towards a cart carrying multiple briefcases, and I quickly slide over and catch Ruby before she can fall and send the pure-white briefcases flying through the air. "Thanks Zach…" Ruby says, swirls still in place of her eyes as she attempts to get her swaying vision back under control.

"No problem." I say, helping her to stand up again as the girl who was pushing the cart walks past us, sending a bit of a glare at Ruby, which makes me send her one of my own. Hey, I may be shy around practically everyone, but when someone's being hateful towards my "little sister", I get a bit protective. Even if this person is colored in and is going to be a Main Character. In response to my glare, the girl simply huffs, and turns around to keep walking.

"Watch what you're doing next time." She says over her shoulder in a haughty voice, making me narrow my eyes a bit more in her direction.

"Sorry!" Ruby calls out, still a bit dizzy, getting another huff in return.

"Yeash, Ice Queen over there just can't accept the fact that it would have been an accident if you had fallen, can she?" I mutter as I notice Ruby stumbling a bit, attempting to stay standing on her own two feet. _I'm willing to bet that girl is gonna be one of the Main Characters that's a bully…_ I think with a mental scowl as I think about the girl in white.

"I guess I'm not the only one having a bad day…" Ruby says as she finally stops swaying, and picks up **Crescent Rose** from where she dropped it when she almost fell onto Ice Queen's luggage. When Ruby collapses her sniper-scythe into its compact form, another fully-colored person walks over to us. And wouldn't you know it, the guy's Vomit Boy.

"Hey, are you two alright?" He asks, no doubt having seen how Ruby was still a bit dizzy, even if she is able to stand on her own two feet without stumbling around.

"Yeah." Ruby responds with a smile, getting one in return.

"That's good. I'm Jaune." Jaune greets us, getting a small smile out of me since this guy apparently isn't like everyone else, since he isn't immediately either glaring at me, or running away.

"Ruby." The 15 year old replies with a small smile.

"Zach." I tell him with a small nod, before giggling gets my attention and I turn to look at Ruby as she covers her mouth with her hand while looking at Jaune.

"Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?" She asks him, making his smile disappear as he sags a bit with a groan, getting more laughter out of Ruby as I give my own quiet chuckles.

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"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" Jaune says, trying to defend the reason that he puked during the airship ride to Beacon. I'll admit, Jaune kinda reminds me of Natsu from Fairy Tail in regards to his motion sickness… Though, Jaune is able to stand and at least _hold_ his lunch during the ride, whereas Natsu is nothing more than a heap on the floor.

"Look, I'm sorry. Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind." Ruby tells him in an apologetic voice… Though the small smirk that she has on her face tells me that she's not _entirely_ sorry.

"Oh yeah? What if I called you…" Jaune trails off, before sagging once again as we continue walking. "I got nothing." He admits with a dejected tone, getting a chuckle out of me, though it's fairly quiet since we were still walking by multiple shades that were heading in the opposite direction of us on the path that we're following. "Anyways, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it." He says with a small smirk, though it doesn't really seem like a _real_ smirk.

"Do they?" Me and Ruby ask him at the same time as we raise an eyebrow each, making Jaune hold out his hands towards us in an attempt to convince us.

"They will…Well I, I hope they will… I mean, my mom always says, uh… Never mind…" He says to us, eventually giving up as his shoulders hang at his sides, getting quiet chuckles out of me and Ruby as we continue walking.

"Um… So… I got this thing." Ruby says as she takes out and extends **Crescent Rose** , and then stabs it into the ground in an attempt to start up conversation once again. It works.

"Whoa! Is, that a scythe?" Jaune asks as more shades walk by us. In response to Jaune's question, Ruby gives a small smirk.

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." She says, picking up **Crescent Rose** and unfolding the scope for its sniper mode.

"A what?" Jaune asks her in confusion.

"It's also a gun." I translate for him with a small smirk on my face, but it disappears when more shades walk by us, some turning to look at me this time around. When they do this, I try to make myself seem as small as possible… Not that it works since I'm a bit taller than Yang, and thus I'm taller than both Ruby and Jaune.

"Oh. That's cool!" Jaune compliments Ruby, making me smile since despite what Ruby had said earlier, she was easily making a friend right now.

"So what've you got?" She asks Jaune with a small smile, making him stutter a bit since he wasn't expecting that question.

"Oh, uh… I, I got this sword." He says as he unsheathes the sword in question. However, said sword doesn't look like anything except for a regular broadsword.

"Ooooh." Ruby says, making Jaune appear to get a bit more confident as he sheaths the sword once again, and takes out something else. "Yeah, I've got this shield too." He says, the item that he pulled out unfolding into a typical shield that you would see knights wield.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby asks him, trailing her hand along the shield for a few seconds, only to make it fold and unfold on Jaune's arm, making it bounce away from him, and causing the teen to attempt to catch it as he lets off slightly panicked sounds, eventually picking it up off the ground after it fell onto the path.

"The, the shield gets smaller. So, when I get tired of carrying it, I can just… Put it away…" He says, doing just that a moment later. However…

"But… wouldn't it weight the same?" Ruby asks, saying just what I was thinking, and making Jaune sag once again as he lets off a sigh.

"Yeah, it does." He admits, making Ruby attempt to cheer him up.

"Well, I'm kinda a dork when it comes to weapons. I guess I _did_ go a little overboard…" She admits, making me raise an eyebrow.

"Ruby... I'm pretty sure that _I_ went overboard in designing my own weapon…" I admit, making her put a finger to her chin in thought, before laughing.

"Yeah, I think you did." She admits, making Jaune raise an eyebrow, but I simply wave him off.

"You'll find out about mine soon enough…" I say, casting a glance down at my suitcase, which held my weapon in question. However, apparently that's not why Jaune was raising his eyebrow.

"Wait a minute… You guys designed your own weapons?" He asks us, confusing me as to why he was asking.

"Of course!" Ruby exclaims with a smile on her face. "All students at Signal forge their own weapons. Though Zach did make his somewhere else… Anyways, didn't you make yours?" She asks Jaune, making him unsheathe his sword and hold it up for us to see once again as he looks at it.

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." He tells us, no doubt referring to the war between humans and the Grimm a long while back. When Jaune tells us this, I raise my eyebrow in confusion, and Ruby voices my thoughts once again.

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me! Heh, well I like it! Not many people have an _appreciation_ for the classics these days." She says, making Jaune once again look down at the sword held in his hand.

"Yeah… The classics..." He says with a slight chuckle while he once again sheaths his sword, but the chuckle didn't hold any joy in it.

"So, why'd you check on us back there in the courtyard?" Ruby asks Jaune as we start walking again.

"Eh, why not? My mom always says, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." Jaune tells us, making me raise one of my eyebrows in surprise and confusion.

"Is your mom aware of how those situations _usually_ turn out?" I ask Jaune, referring to the fact that the way those situations usually turn out is that one person ends up either robbed, or dead. My question seems to make Jaune give a nervous chuckle after he thinks about it.

"Hey, where are we going?" Ruby suddenly asks, making the three of us stop walking, and stop talking about that topic.

"Oh, I don't know. I was following you guys." Jaune admits.

…

Face, meet palm.

* * *

Eventually, the three of us managed to make it to the main auditorium, in which everyone was already gathered. Within the crowds of shades, I managed to pick out a couple familiar faces. One of which is Ice Queen, while the other…

"Ruby! Zach! Over here! I saved you guys a couple spots!" Yang exclaims as she waves her hand in order to get Ruby's attention, since I was already looking at her. Although, the fact that everyone else around her is nothing but a silhouette, _kinda_ makes it plainly obvious where she is. In response to her sister's greeting, Ruby waves back, before turning to look at Jaune.

"Oh, hey, I gotta go! See you after the ceremony!" Ruby exclaims as she runs towards Yang, myself following her and giving a small wave to Jaune over my shoulder.

"See ya'". I say with a quiet voice… Stupid shades and their stupid whispers. When I reach the other two, Yang speaks up.

"So, how are your first days going? Little sis, handsome?" She asks, winking at me once again. Yup, I was right with my earlier assumption. Now that her protective father can't be here, she's not holding back with flirting. However, that's quickly shut down by Ruby.

"You mean since you ditched us?" She asks with a slight glare, making Yang raise her hands in defense.

"Sorry, sorry." Yang says, moving slightly towards me. Probably to both get away from the possible eruption of anger from Ruby, but also probably due to the fact that her ass is now presses against my leg, fairly close to my groin I might add. And the fact that she sends me another wink over her shoulder tells me that she did this on purpose.

"It didn't help that some girl also yelled at me when I almost fell into her luggage." Ruby continues, making Yang raise her eyebrow and turn to face me, getting a shrug in response.

"She's telling the truth. Ice Queen got all upset because she almost fell onto the briefcases that she was carrying around." I tell her, once again double checking to make sure that I'm mostly covered by my hood. This time, Yang notices again, and frowns.

"C'mon Zach… Why do you do that?" She asks, her voice taking on a softer tone than she usually has. This is a tone that she reserves for her sister, and me. The kind that tells us just how much she cares for us. I sigh in response to her question, looking around the shades that are around us, some of which are turned in our direction. Yang notices, and lets off a frustrated sigh as she once again turns to glare at all the shades staring at us. And once again, they all turn away from us as Yang turns around to look at me.

"Zach… You can't let everyone around you affect how you act." She says as she stops leaning against me, and instead turns around and wraps me in a hug. And this isn't the kind where she purposefully presses her breasts against me, this is the kind that's comforting and meant to show me just how much she cares about me. Slowly, I let my own arms wrap around her own, fighting against the impulse to stiffen up and not do anything for fear of some of the shades noticing.

After a few seconds of the two of us hugging each other, Yang steps back and gives me a smile. "See? Just like that." She tells me, myself giving her a slightly nervous smile in response, getting a light chuckle. "Baby steps Zach, baby steps." She tells me, resting her hand on my cheek. Before anything else can be said, the three of us hear the sound of loudspeakers turning on, and turn to look at the stage to see two people standing on it.

"I'll… Keep this brief." Says the man standing in front of the microphone, who's none other than Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon. "You have travelled here today in search of knowledge… To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." Ozpin tells us, Ruby looking between me and Yang with a large smile on her face, making the two of us give her our own small smiles in response. Then, Ozpin drops the bomb on us.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy." He tells us, making all the shades turn to one another and start to mutter amongst themselves. "In need of purpose… Direction. You assume knowledge will free you off this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." When he finishes, I turn to Yang and Ruby with a slight frown on my face.

"Did he just insult us? I'm not the only one who thinks that he just insulted us, right?" I ask the other two, making them shrug as Goodwitch walks up where Ozpin was standing a few seconds ago.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She tells us as she follows Ozpin and walks away. When this happens, Yang turns to look at me.

"He seemed kind of… Off." Yang comments, making Ruby nod beside her.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there." Ruby adds, and I nod my own head in agreement.

"Yeah, insulting your students right off the bat doesn't exactly give you the best first impression." I say, getting nods from the other two in response, before Yang and Ruby got ready to leave and grab their stuff for tonight. However, before they did so, Yang walked over to me, and leaned in next to my ear, making sure to press her breasts against my chest as she does so.

"See you later Zach, I just hope that I'll be able to see you shirtless tonight." She whispers. Leave it to Yang to be straight to the point and not beat around the bush. However, in response to her comment, I manage a smile of my own as she leans back with a glint in her eyes. I know, an actual smile! In _public_!

"Just so long as your sleepwear lets me see a considerable amount of skin, I think we'll be just fine Yang." I respond in a whisper, making the blonde beauty give me a flirtatious wink as she follows Ruby, who once again has a blush of embarrassment on her face. Oh, did I also mention that as she walked away, Yang made sure to add an extra sway to her hips? But, that aside, chalk my reactions up for Zach: 2, Public: 999… Yeah… _At least it's a start._ I think to myself with a mental sigh as I also head off to look around the school a bit, before heading to the ballroom.

* * *

That night I'm walking amongst the ballroom after changing into my sleepwear, heading back to where I'd set up my sleeping bag earlier which was right next to Yang's. As I get closer, I hear the girl in question speak up. "It's like a bi~~~g slumber party." She says as I see her drop onto her sleeping bag next to Ruby.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the _boys_ though." Ruby argues, and right after she says that, Yang's gaze narrows in on me as I walk towards the two.

"I know I do." She says with narrowed eyes, before purring a bit, making me give her another smirk as I get closer to them. As it turns out, I'd followed through with what I'd said earlier, and was only wearing blue jeans. Needless to say, I got quite a few stares from the female populace, some were good with the reason being the six-pack that stood out on my stomach. I'd tell you how I got it, but let's just say that it has to do with my past and leave at that for now. As for the other females, their stares were simply because of who I am… _What_ I am… But, that aside, I focus on the blonde beauty staring at me with narrowed eyes as she licks her lips.

"Hey Yang, I see we both dressed like we said we would." I tell her with a smirk, her talk earlier having gotten through to me on some level, in that I was now able to act semi-normal in public. However, I feel like it's gonna be a while until I can be _completely_ normal in public, or use my _Semblance_ in the presence of others beside Yang.

"Yup, and I am _not_ regretting that decision." She says with the purr still in her voice. As it turns out, Yang is wearing an orange shirt that had her signature flame emblem on it, which allowed me to see a generous amount of her midriff, as well as her cleavage, and she also had a _short_ skirt on that left plenty of her legs to be seen. I give her a smile as I sit down on my sleeping bag, crossing my legs in a lotus position as I do so, and Yang rakes her eyes over my body as I do the same to her. Unfortunately, I don't get a very good look due to the darkness of the ballroom. So, I assume that the same can be said for Yang.

Yeah, like I said before, we're practically dating, and the only thing holding us back was my hesitance due to how the public views me. However, now that she's starting to get through to me on acting normal in public, I feel like it won't be long before we _are_ together. After a few seconds, Yang turns to look at Ruby, and notices her hands are hovering over a book, while her face is beet red at our behavior. "What's that?" The blonde beauty asks her sister, making Ruby shake her head quickly to get rid of the blush as she goes back to writing, though a faint red tint stays in her cheeks.

"A letter to the gang back at signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." Ruby explains, making Yang smile at her sister.

"Aww, that's so cu~~~~te." Yang says to her sister… Only to get a pillow to the face.

"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird only knowing two people here." Ruby tells her sister as Yang pushes herself back up onto her elbows.

"What about Jaune? He's… Nice. There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!" However, Ruby simply turns over on her sleeping bag and interlocks her fingers behind her head.

"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero." Ruby says dejectedly. Yeah, as it turns out, we found out after the ceremony the "Ice Queen" that Ruby almost bumped into earlier was actually Weiss Schnee, and heiress to the Schnee dust company. Let's just say that right now, her and Ruby aren't exactly on friendly terms, hence why Ruby is counting her as a "negative friend".

"There's no such thing as negative friends. You just made one friend and one enemy." Yang says in an attempt to make Ruby feel better… Unfortunately, a second pillow to the blonde's face tells us that it didn't really work. Welp, seeing as Yang has had two pillows thrown at her, and Ruby still apparently has one, I'm gonna chalk this up as Anime Logic, just like all the shades around us… Which confuses me as to why the three men over there aren't shades…

But, that aside, Yang has managed to take the dog pillow that Ruby threw at her off her face and give her younger sister a soft smile. "Look, it's only been one day. Trust me you've got friends all around you. You just, haven't met them yet." Yang tells Ruby, sounding strikingly similar to Jaune earlier when he told Ruby a similar thing about how "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet". However, despite this, Ruby simply rolls over and puts her journal away.

"I'm going to bed. I'll talk to you guys in the morning." She says, making Yang turn to look at me, causing me to shrug in response as I let off a sigh.

"If Ruby wants to sleep, let's let her sleep Yang. After all, maybe it'll be better for her tomorrow." I say, getting a nod from the blonde beauty in front of me as she moves over to lay her head on my lap after I change from a lotus position to just crossing them over one another. (You know, the kind that all us kids were taught in elementary school, "crisscross applesauce".) When she does this, my left hand immediately goes to brushing strands of her hair. This is another thing that's between the two of us. I'm pretty much the only person, besides her family, that Yang allows to touch her hair. If anyone else does it, they can expect to be blasted away by Yang's weapons, or just her punches.

As I continue, the two of us listen as Ruby's breathing gets deeper, indicating that she's fallen asleep. When this happens, Yang pushes herself up and looks down at her younger sister with a small smile. "I'm so proud of her." Yang says, myself smiling a bit as I look at Ruby with Yang.

"I am too. To think Ruby, your 15 year old sister, is being bumped ahead to Beacon by two years… It really says a lot about her, doesn't it?" I ask Yang, getting a nod in response as the blonde beauty moves a strand of hair from Ruby's eyes, and then turns to look at me.

"Thanks for helping her, Zach. It really means a lot to me." She thanks me, making me smile in response.

"Hey, Ruby is like a younger sister to me, of course I'd help her… Though, the fact that you kinda left both of us on our own when you went off with your other friends didn't exactly help." I tell her, making her give a nervous chuckle in response, before she stops and crawls towards me. And when I say crawl, I mean the slow, deliberate crawl. As in, on her hands and knees with a glint in her eyes.

"Well… I suppose I'll just have to find a way to make it up to the two of you." She says, before she reaches me and pushes herself onto her knees, her hands resting on my shoulders as she presses her breasts against my chest. "And I think I know of one way to repay _you_ Zach." She whispers in my ear, making me give a small smirk. Once again, Yang is demonstrating that she isn't one to mince words. Though, the fact that there are a whole bunch of other students around us kinda takes away from the mood.

"Well beautiful, it's unfortunate that there are a whole lot of people around then." I whisper back. Man, in case you couldn't tell, I'd have to say that Yang's done a _great_ job of getting my social problems solved… Or it could just be that it's now close to midnight, and my male hormones, added to how Yang is currently acting, is causing me to act like this… Yeah, I'm gonna go with the second one. However, hormones helping me aside, Yang simply pulls away slightly and gives me a smirk.

"Oh well, I guess instead I'll just have to give you a promise for later." She says with a playful shrug, before leaning in and kissing me. And not on the cheek either. Oh no, this is a full blown kiss on the lips, which Yang proceeds to add her tongue to a few seconds later. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked, and Yang uses it to her advantage as she presses against me a bit more, her barely covered breasts pressing against my shirtless chest as her hands rest on my shoulder, and she moans lightly into the kiss. She pulls away a few seconds later, both of us with red faces due to lack of oxygen. However, Yang is sporting a triumphant grin as she pulls away completely, and sits down on her sleeping bag. "Remember Zach, that's just a promise." She tells me with a wink, before getting into her sleeping bag, and turning to face her sister.

In response, I continue to sit there in surprise for a few seconds, before letting a quiet chuckle escape my lips. "Well then, I look forwards to how the promise turns out beautiful." I reply with a small smile on my face, before getting into my own sleeping bag, and falling asleep a few seconds later.

Unfortunately, my dreams are not as happy as my times with Yang are…

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: Alright! So… Writer's Block after Finals week is a bitch… Yeah, as it turns out, last week was filled with taking Finals, and studying for Finals, and then this weekend was taken up with me trying to find the motivation to actually write. As I stated in the first Author's Note, I ended up re-writing that Author's Note, and the first part of this chapter, around 5 times. You have Writers Block to thank for that… Although, I feel like part of it is my brain trying to finally calm down from taking Finals, and thus I had trouble with everything else.**

 **Anyways, for those of you who can guess how I've written out Zach, congratulations! You've found out a single chapter (Possibly two) before everyone else! However, like I said earlier, I'm gonna ask you guys to _not_ write in your guesses in the reviews, since I don't want to ruin it for anyone else. So if you could hold off until I actually give it away that would be great. Now, I'm sure that almost all of you have noticed the scenes that I took out of this. That's because I've included Zach into the story. So, because I made Zach stop Ruby from falling into Weiss's luggage, Weiss doesn't _hate_ Ruby at the moment, just dislike her for what she almost did. Because of this, she didn't yell at Ruby during the ceremony, and because Ruby didn't blow up due to the Dust that Weiss has, she doesn't know Blake at the moment.**

 **So as you can see, I've only incorporated small changes to the plot. However, because Rooster Teeth has made it so that most of the time that Team RWBY spends at the academy isn't gone over, I'll be doing a few original chapters that will just take place during regular school days. Now, you guys don't need to worry! I'm not gonna have it so that the classes are literally like classes in school, I'd say that everyone already has, or had, enough of that during their lives. So instead, I'll only go over classes that they have where interesting things happen. Such as after the fighting classes are introduced in the series during Volume 1, I'll be adding them into my own original chapters.**

 **But, I think that's about it for now. So, here's the Bio for Zach that I promised you guys earlier. Note that I won't be going over everything, since most of it will be revealed over time, and I don't want to give everything away at the get-go.**

Name: Zach ******

Age: 17

Appearance: Caucasian skin, blue-grey eyes, brown hair that's styled to look messy.

Outfit: Black combat boots that reach up to his mid-calf area, blue jeans, a white button-up T-shirt, and a grey zip-up hoodie.

Other clothing: **N/A**

Weapon: **N/A**

Semblance: **N/A**

Fighting Class: **N/A**

Background: **N/A**

Personality: At first, Zach is very subdued around other people, with the only two that he willingly interacts with being Ruby Rose, and Yang Xiao Long, the two half-sisters. It appears to have something to do with a mixture of both his Semblance, as well as his past. And every student, and possibly adult, seems to know about what it is.

However, Yang eventually had enough with what was happening and what it did to him, and talked to Zach about his personality around other people during the first day that her, Zach and Ruby attended Beacon. She managed to get through to him, and it appeared that little by little, he started to come out of his shell. (Though, Zach argues that it was simply his hormones due to the time of night, mixed with how Yang was acting, that allowed him to become "himself" around other people.)

It is unclear how his personality will continue through the rest of his time at Beacon, but for now, he is trying his best to work past his social problems.

 **Well guys, I think that's all for this chapter. So thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter, where we finally get to an actual action sequence, and a bit more will be revealed about Zach. Including his weapon! Until then guys!**

 **(Updated July 25th, 2015: Well guys, I've now returned to this story once again! Granted, it hasn't really been that long, but after getting your wisdom teeth removed, a nearly three weeks feels like an eternity.**

 **Anyways, not that much was edited in this chapter, just a few grammar mistakes, as well as details being changed. The only change that I'm sure is the most noticeable is that I've typed out weapons in Bold now, simply because I feel like it will make sense for when certain words are uppercase, while others aren't. But, besides that, there will probably be other, more noticeable changes in later chapters.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Initiation In The Emerald Forest**

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 1: I… Hate… Fucking… Insomnia! Right now, it's one-o-clock in the fucking morning! And I literally just started up my computer because I've been lying in bed for around four hours, and _I can't sleep_! Hell, I've tried taking sleeping pills in the past, but all they do for me is put me in a kind of resting phase where I'm aware of what's going on enough to know that I'm still _awake_ , but I have no idea of anything going on _around_ _me_ … I need help…**

 ** _Anyways_** **, my own personal problems aside, I guess that I should get back to the actual story, since that's what you guys are actually here for. So, last chapter, I introduced you guys to the "Z" in RWBYZ, Zach. Now, at the time that I'm writing this first Author's Note, I haven't posted the first chapter. So, I don't really know if anyone has managed to figure out the way that I've written out Zach. But for those of you who haven't, you'll _probably_ be able to figure it out this chapter. And depending on how long I make this one, it's possible that if you don't, then you'll know for a fact either this chapter, or the next.**

 **Another thing that I'm sure you guys noticed last chapter is that Zach and Yang easily return each other's feeling when they're around people they know, but other than that, Zach has/had problems whenever he is/was around random "shades". Now, I _will_ be touching upon this at a later date, probably during an original chapter or arc, since each "episode" for RWBY takes place a few days, weeks or even months after the one before it.**

 **So, during one or more of the chapters that takes place between those times, you guys will find out more about Zach's past, if you guys don't already get an idea of it after reading this chapter and the first one. Oh, something important you guys should know is that at the moment, I'm basing this off the Netflix version. However, I'm probably gonna go look at the YouTube playlist in a little while so that I can understand things that aren't gone over in the actual episodes.**

 **Now, I'm sure that you guys just want to get to reading the actual chapter since I'm sure that's what all of you are here for in the first place. So, after another long ass Author's Note, I'll just let you guys read chapter 2 of "Team RWBYZ"!**

 **(Update: Shut down computer and attempted falling asleep at two after getting through the first part of the chapter, which goes until the end of the locker scene. I managed to fall asleep after a couple hours, and I got six hours of sleep before waking up, eating, and then working on this once again after I went over the trailers for RWBY to get a bit more backstory on the characters.)**

* * *

 **Zach's POV:**

* * *

The next day, me, Ruby and Yang are in the locker rooms provided to us by the school, when two teens walk by us, one of them talking non-stop to the other, who simply listens. "I wonder what those two are so worked up about." Ruby says as she opens her locker, getting a shrug from me as I hold a black briefcase in my right hand, Yang standing beside me and looking in the opposite direction, before she turns around to face her sister.

"Oh, who knows?" Yang asks her, before crossing her arms as she gives her younger sister a smile. "So, you seem awfully chipper this morning." Yang continues, getting a light chuckle from me when she says this.

"I'll say. It's like you're completely different from yesterday Ruby. Did you wake up on the _right_ side of your sleeping bag this morning?" I ask, getting a light laugh out of the blond beauty beside me. In case you don't know, Yang has a thing for horrible puns and jokes… Kinda reminds me of that one commentator on YouTube, RageGamingVideos. **(Note: At this moment, I can't remember if there is an actual name for a version of YouTube in the RWBY universe, so until I find out, just go with it for now. Also, if you don't know who I'm talking about… Search him up! He's hilarious!)**

"Hm, yup! No more awkward small talk or getting to know you stuff. Today, I get to let my _sweetheart_ do the talking." Ruby says as she actually caresses **Crescent Rose** , making me roll my eyes, though I have a small smirk on my face as I do so. However, Yang speaks up from beside me, making Ruby turn to look at her and stop caressing her precious sniper-scythe.

"Well, remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation." Yang tells her younger sister, placing her hands on her hips. "If you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together." She continues. However, this simply gets an annoyed groan out of Ruby as she sends a light glare at her sister.

"You sound like da~~~~d!" Ruby says, putting **Crescent Rose** back in her locker as she turns around to face her older sister again. "Okay, first of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink _milk_." Ruby declares, pointing her thumb at herself with a smile on her face, making me roll my eyes with an amused smile on my face.

 _"I drink milk." – Ruby Rose, 2015_ I think to myself with a smirk. **(I don't know if there's an actual year for when RWBY takes place, so I'm just gonna go with the current one for now.)** "Do you also eat all the vegetables on your plate?" I ask her, making her smile once again as she nods.

"Yes, yes I- Wait… Zach!" She exclaims, making me laugh as Yang sends an amused smile of her own at her sister, before talking to her once again.

"Ruby, what about when we form teams?" Yang asks her younger sister, making her stop glaring at me and turn to face Yang with a confused facial expression.

"I, I don't know… I'll just be on _your_ team… Or Zach's… Or something…" She trails off at the end while turning around and hugging herself a little, not really sure where to go with it after listing off our names. However, at her response, Yang and I share a glance, with the blonde beauty messing around with her hair a little.

"Maybe, you should try being on someone _else's_ team…" Yang suggests, making Ruby turn around and walk over to stand in front of her older sister.

"My dearest sister Yang. Are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" Ruby asks her as she places her hands on her hips and sends Yang another slight glare, making Yang raise her own hands in defense.

"What? No! Of course I do… I just thought, I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell." Yang suggests. However, it has the complete opposite effect than she was expecting as Ruby throws her hands into the air.

"What the-! I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely-!" However, she's cut off as Jaune walks between the three of us with a piece of paper held in his hands.

"Ridiculous!" He exclaims, essentially finishing Ruby's sentence for her. However, as he walks away, still talking to himself, Ruby continues to glare at me and Yang. As she does so, the two of us have a silent conversation. Yes. We know each other well enough to do so, without Ruby being able to figure out what we're saying.

 _Come on Yang, you're her sister!_ I tell her with my eyes.

 _Yeah, but you're her older brother figure! And she looks up to you after you made your own weapon the way you did!_ She argues, making my eyes widen a bit.

 _But she looks up to you because you're her_ sister _!_ You _understand her better than_ I _do!_ I tell her, sending a glance at Ruby to see that she's still glaring at us, her eyes narrowing a bit when she sees that we're not answering her, and instead trading glances.

 _Come on Zach! You know as well as I do that she needs to break out of her shell and meet new people! Just the two of us aren't going to work for the rest of her life!_ She tells me, making me roll my eyes a bit.

 _Yeah, that'll sound_ great _coming from the guy that has problems even_ talking _when there are other people around!_ I argue back, giving her a valid reason. However, she breaks out the big guns instead.

 _Yeah, and I helped you break out of your shell yesterday! Come on Zach… I'll even give you a present!_ She tells me, making my eyes narrow.

 _Are you trying to bribe me?_ I ask her, making her lips give a barely noticeable twitch as she subtly sways her chest a bit.

 _I don't know Zach… Am I?_ She asks, and I can see the sultry look that she's giving me with her eyes.

 _Yes! Yes you are!_ I exclaim, and her eyes gain a more seductive glint to them as she leans towards me slightly, but not enough for Ruby to notice.

 _Come on Zach! You_ know _that I can make it worthwhile… You just need to tell Ruby._ She tells me, and I mentally groan since I _know_ that she's trying her best to not tell her sister. Yang would no doubt want to spend some time with me later despite the choice of if I told her sister or not. But, this was just her way of flirting now that her dad can't be looking over her shoulder.

 _…Fine. But it better be worth it. After all, you still have that other promise to fulfil as well._ I tell her, making her eyes stay seductive as she sends me a wink.

 _Oh, don't worry, I plan on returning both favors Zach._ She says, and I can tell that she would be whispering that to me if we were actually talking. So, sighing at the task I've been given, I step towards my younger sister figure.

"Ruby… You've been around your sister for your _entire life_. Hell, I've been around _you guys_ for a few years. But… Look how you did with Jaune yesterday! He was the second person you met at Beacon, and you became friends with him in the space of ten minutes!" I tell her with a smile, making her glare go away a bit as she turns to look back towards her locker.

"Yeah… But…" She trails off, and I sigh as I walk over to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Ruby… Remember what Yang said yesterday? You're surrounded by friends here at Beacon, you just haven't actually _made them_ your friends yet." I tell her, making her turn slightly to look at me.

"Yeah, but yesterday _you_ said that those situations usually don't turn out well." She mutters, making me blush a bit in embarrassment as I wave my hands around.

"No! I said that about _strangers_! As in the random people on the street! Not the students here at Beacon!" I exclaim, but before I can get much further, the three of us hear a yelp and turn to see Jaune stuck into one of the many pillars in the room by a spear through his hood. However, before anything can be said, we hear the loudspeaker turn on.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation." The loudspeaker announces, and we turn away from it to watch as Weiss "Ice Queen" Schnee, and another girl that I vaguely recognize, walk past Jaune with the latter taking her spear from where it was imbedded in the pillar. I say "take" and not grab, because as she does so, I narrow my eyes and focus on the fact that her hand never even _touched_ the piece of metal.

"It was nice meeting you!" The redhead exclaims, Jaune simply slumping to the ground as she walks past.

"Likewise…" He trails off as the three of us walk over to him, Ruby no longer glaring at me or Yang.

"Having some trouble there, lady killer?" Yang asks him with a smirk as Ruby holds out a hand for him to take. I simply stay standing next to Yang, my briefcase in my right hand, while my left hand is in the pocket of my grey hoodie.

"I don't understand… My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?" He asks, his head rolling so that he's looking at the ground once again as I sigh, and Yang starts to walk away while I follow her.

""Snow Angle" _probably_ wasn't the best start." Yang tells him, myself nodding in agreement as Ruby helps him after us as we all head towards the cliff that we would be taking our initiations at.

* * *

A few minutes later, the three of us, along with the other first years, are standing on Beacon Cliff with professor Ozpin and Goodwitch standing in front of us. "For years, you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." The headmaster tells us as we all listen attentively, no one wanting to speak over him and possibly miss any crucial information. Which turns out to be a good thing since Goodwitch speaks up next with a Scroll in her hands.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… Today." She tells us.

 _Well, the main vibe that I get from this teacher? Don't fuck with her._ I think to myself after hearing her blunt statement. From my place next to Yang, I can hear Ruby on the blonde beauty's other side start to quietly complain to herself.

"What? Oh…" She trails off, making me sigh quietly, since I know that either me or Yang would have to try our best to find a way onto her team. Hey, we might have told her earlier that she needs to break out of her shell, but being _completely_ separated from me and her sister? That's _not_ what we meant. After Goodwitch's announcement, Ozpin speaks up again.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." He tells us, making _me_ start to sweat a bit, because now _I_ needed to make sure I was on either Ruby's or Yang's team. If it's both of them, even better! However, Ozpin's next announcement makes that a bit more difficult. "That being said, the _first person_ you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." When he says this, I hear the sound of glass shattering just before Ruby gives a frightened yelp. I'll admit, I'm not much better off since I'm now sweating bullets.

 _Oh this is just_ great _! The last thing I need is to be paired with someone who's gonna hate me for the rest of my time at Beacon! I'd just be used as bait every time we go against Grimm, or something similar would happen, and they wouldn't listen to anything I'd try to say!_ I think to myself in fear. However, unaware, or completely aware knowing Ozpin as the headmaster, of my internal fear, the headmaster continues talking.

"After you are partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. _Do_ _not_ hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you _will_ die." He tells us right before takes a sip from his mug of what I presume is coffee. However, he suddenly seems to think of something as he swallows the liquid and speaks up again. "Ah, yes. I almost forgot to mention that due to some… _Interesting_ developments, there will be one team of three this year." He mentions, making almost everyone turn to look at me, since I was apparently the only one who could be classified as "interesting".

When this happens, I pull my hood a little tighter, and try to sink into my black leather jacket with a red tribal design between my shoulder blades. I'd put this on just before leaving the locker room, and it completed my Huntsman outfit. "Now, you will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will _not_ intervene." He tells us, myself still trying to sink into my clothes due to the few shades still looking at me.

"You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair, or trio, must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Ozpin asks us, and I see Jaune raise his hand out of the corner of my eyes.

"Yeah, um, sir…" However, Jaune doesn't get to say anything else as Ozpin starts speaking again.

"Good. Now, take your positions." He tells us, and I see everyone else get into a stance as if they were about to fight. As for me, I just crouch low to the ground with my arms by my side, my right one moving a bit since I can feel my weapon present on my arm. I hear Jaune continue to question the teacher as the panels that everyone is standing on starts to launch them over the cliff. Then, the teen beside me gets launched, and I take on last look at Yang. In response, the blonde beauty simply gives me a wink, and I return it with a smile… Right before my panel launches me out into the open air above the cliff, the last three first years following not too far behind.

As we all fly through the air, I stay in the exact position that I was in when we were launched. This allows me to control my approach to the ground below with slight arm movements, and I do so in a way that lets me head towards an area that's clear of trees. As I do this, I suddenly hear a loud **_~Bang!~_** which is quickly followed by multiple others. When I look in the direction that they're coming from, I notice a yellow blur heading towards the same area I am, and I allow myself to slightly veer off course so that Yang doesn't slam into me.

She flies past me, Anime Logic allowing time to slow down so that she could give me a flirtatious wink, and then goes flying through the trees, jumping from one trunk to the next until she lands on the ground, rolls, and then runs a bit, before turning around. As she does this, I simply continue to direct my approach, not bothering to grab onto any trees or anything that would help to cushion my fall. Instead, I just continue to head towards the ground, closer and closer…

Before I create a sizable crater in the ground when I land with my right fist punched onto the ground to keep me from falling onto my face. After landing, I stand up, brush some dirt off my shoulders, and look up to see Yang standing in front of me, taking off her sunglasses. "Show off." She mutters, and now that we're _extremely_ far away from any shades, I let a smirk make its way onto my face.

"Ah, you know you love it Yang." I say, making her chuckle a bit, before she saunters forwards, and pulls me into a heated kiss by the front of my hoodie, which I return as I place my hands on her waist and pull me towards me slightly as that our bodies are pressed against each other.

"True, it's just one of the things that I really like about you." She admits when she pulls back a few seconds later, making my smirk grow, before it turns into a more serious expression.

"As much fun as this is now that we're alone, I think it might be a good idea if we find Ruby." I say, making Yang nod as the two of us start jogging through the forest in the direction that Yang last saw Ruby heading towards after being launched. Eventually, we reach an area around the point that we think she landed, and start to wander around the area a bit.

"Hello~~~~~~! Is anyone out there?!" Yang calls out into the mist that's started to drift into the area, myself looking around as well.

"Ru~~~~by! Ruby! It's us! Come on out if you're around here!" I call out, looking around the area as I put my hands on either side of my mouth in hopes that it would amplify my voice and carry it across a wider area. Suddenly, the two of us hear bushes start to rustle, and turn around in the direction of the noise.

"Is someone there?" Yang asks as the two of us walk towards the bush. "Ruby, is that you?" She continues as we move the bushes a bit to get a better view… "Nope." Only for the two of us to dodge to the sides as an Ursa comes charging out of the greenery. The two of us roll to our feet and face the Grimm, Yang readying **Ember Celica** , only for another Ursa to charge at her from behind. However, she rolls to the side once again, dodging the strike, and ends up next to me as the two of us face the two Grimm on the other side of the clearing we'd found ourselves in.

After a few seconds of silence, one of the Ursai tries to take its chances by charging at us, and in response it gets a shotgun enhanced punch to the gut, courtesy of the blonde beauty beside me. I smirk as the large Grimm is shot off its feet, and gets launched to the other side of the clearing next to the second one, just as the second Ursa in question charges towards us. This time, Yang gives the Ursa a shotgun enhanced uppercut, before kicking it while blasting it with **Ember Celica** once again.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" She asks, only to get growls in response.

"My, what sharp teeth you two have." I quip as I stand next to Yang, getting a bit of laughter from her.

"In the middle of a forest looking for a girl in a red hood, complimenting a Grimm's teeth, we're in a real life Little Red Riding Hood, aren't we?" Yang asks me sarcastically, myself simply holding my right arm out in front of me as I continue to feel my weapon underneath my clothes, and give a smirk.

"All we need is for the two Ursa to be replaced with a single Beowolf and we'll actually be living the fairy tale." I agree, just before one of said Ursa charge at us again. It heads towards Yang, and attempts to swipe at her with its claws. In response, the blonde beauty backflips away, and then lands on her feet a few yards away, giving a mocking laugh.

"Geez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a bar-" She suddenly cuts herself off and I notice why at the same time she does…

The Grimm had cut off a strand of her hair.

At this point in time, I'd like to remind you of what I said last chapter. That being that me and her family are the only ones who are able to touch her hair without being sent to a nurse, or hospital. Now, you can imagine what would happen if someone _damaged_ said hair. With that in mind, I start to back away with my hands in front of me, the two Grimm sharing looks as Yang starts to growl, the two actually look at _me_ in confusion after a second. I simply give them a nervous smile in response, since with what's about to happen, I'm not entirely sure I'd even wish it on a Grimm.

"Let's just say that the only one able to calm her down, or go toe-to-toe with her, when she's like this is me. But since I'm not sparring with her, I think I'd rather _not_ get in her way… It was nice knowing you." I tell them with the same nervous smile on my face as I continue to back away, just as Yang looks up with her now-red eyes as she glares at the two Ursa.

"You…" Yang trails off, before swinging her arms so that they're pointing at the ground. "You monster!" She yells, **Ember Celica** going off and causing fire to flare around her, before she pushes off the ground and rockets towards the two Grimm, her weapon going off again and propelling her forwards at faster speeds. When she reaches the first Ursa, she sends a devastating punch to its gut, before giving it an uppercut that launches it up into the air. When it starts to come back down, Yang once again rockets forwards, and launches a barrage of shotgun enhanced punches to the Ursa's stomach as she continues to run forwards. After one last devastating blow, the Grimm is launched through multiple trees, snapping the trunks as the Ursa goes flying through them all.

After Yang does this, she turns around to find the second Ursa charging towards her, before it stands up on its hind legs and growls at her. "What?! You want some too?!" She yells at it… Just before it lets off a surprised grunt as the sound of flesh tearing is heard, and the Grimm falls onto its front revealing a girl, that I'd seen reading the night before, with her weapon embedded into the Ursa's back. Me and Yang just stare at her as she stands over the fallen Grimm, and retracts her weapon by the rope that it was attached to into her hand, the blonde beauty breathing deeply as she starts to finally calm down from her rage. After sheathing her weapon on her back, the new girl sends a smirk to the two of us.

"…I could've taken him." Yang says in defense, making the girl turn to me.

"Hey, when Yang goes on a warpath, unless we're sparring I tend to stay out of the way since I'm not the one she's angry at." I explain, holding up my hands, even though I subconsciously notice that I'd immediately made sure that my hood was up when I saw the girl. In response, the girl simply raises an eyebrow, before the three of us hear a whistling sound, and turn to face the direction that it's coming from. The sight that we see is that of an arrow that suddenly impacts one of the untouched trees around us. In response, the three of us look amongst one another, before Yang walks over to it, and takes off a piece of paper that was tied to it.

"It says, "Congratulations on meeting your new teammates"." She says, making me turn to the girl that we don't know, and mentally sigh.

 _Great… So then Ruby's gonna be stuck with someone that she doesn't know..._ I think to myself with a frown, before the girl suddenly holds out her hand to me as Yang walks back over to us.

"Blake." She tells me, and I'm assuming that's her name as I slowly reach out with my own hand and shake hers.

"Zach." I respond, taking my hand back a bit quicker than what would be normal when we stop shaking.

"And I'm Yang." Yang greets the girl with a smile, though she slightly frowns when she notices that I've become my secluded self once again in the presence of someone new. Letting off a sigh, Yang starts walking once again. "Well, since we're a team now, I guess we should head towards that forest temple the professor told us about." Yang says, getting a nod from me and Blake in response, before we all start heading North. The way that we're able to tell is due to the positioning of the sun, since it's not even noon yet, so the sun is still rising in the east, meaning we just keep it to our right.

* * *

After about half an hour of walking, we eventually make it to a break in the trees, and walk out to find ourselves standing on a small hill overlooking the ruins of what I can assume was once the forest temple that Ozpin was talking about earlier. As we stand on the hill, Yang turns her head to look at me and Blake. "Think this is it?" She asks us, getting a slightly raised eyebrow from me, while Blake gives her a deadpan expression, before walking down the hill towards the ruins, me and Yang not far behind.

When we walk into the actual ruins of the temple, we notice that there are multiple pedestals, some of which have objects on them, a couple of which are empty. As we get a closer look, I notice that all the objects are… "Chess pieces?" Blake asks, looking at a black king that's set up on one of the pedestals.

"Some of them are missing." Yang comments, looking at the empty pedestals that no doubt held pieces beforehand. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here." She continues, myself nodding in agreement as I notice that two black pieces are missing from the possible choices.

"Well, I guess we should pick one." Blake says, getting nods from me and Yang in response as the three of us look over the available pieces that were left. After a few more seconds, Yang picks one in particular up and holds it out for us to see.

"How about a cute little pony?" She asks us as she holds up the white Knight, making Blake roll her eyes in response.

"Sure." She says, before giving a slight smile and walking over to Yang while I simply shrug in response to the blonde beauty's question. If me and Yang were on a team alone, or with Ruby, I'd probably take this chance to start up some witty banter with the blonde beauty, which would no doubt lead to us flirting. However, since Blake is a part of our group, and I don't know her that well, I've gone back to my more secluded personality. And Yang's noticed if her slight frown in my direction is anything to go by.

"That wasn't too hard." Yang comments after a few seconds of looking at me, and then looks around at the remaining objects while I simply look around the area itself in case any Grimm make themselves known.

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find." Blake responds, myself humming in agreement as I continue to look around the area, not able to shake myself of the feeling that Yang's words aren't going to last that much longer. And I'm proven right when a few seconds later, we hear a _very_ high pitched squeal. In response to the squeal, Yang turns in the direction that it came from.

"Some girl's in trouble! Blake, Zach, did you hear that?!" She exclaims, myself sighing a bit off to the side.

"That, or it was a guy that got the shit scared out of him… Or got hit in the balls." I add as I wince at the thought. However, I suddenly hear a loud voice that's _extremely_ familiar.

"Heads u~~~~~p!" I hear the familiar voice yell, and I look up to find Ruby falling towards us. When I see this, I'm surprisingly calm as I stand next to Yang and Blake, not jumping as high as I can in the air to catch her. Though, I'm not sure if it's because I'm in shock, or because there's someone else here that I don't want to reveal my Semblance to… However, before I can find out, Ruby is suddenly hit by another familiar, colored-in person, and hits into a tree with them. As we stare at the tree that they hit, Blake speaks up.

"Who were those guys?" She asks.

"The one in Red was Ruby, Yang's little sister. As for the other guy, he's Jaune, a friend of ours." I reply, just before we hear trees crashing to the ground, and turn to find a large Ursa stumbling out of the forest as it swipes its claws around as if trying to hit something, before falling to the ground as an orange haired girl suddenly rolls off its back to look at it, before zipping "off-screen", and then zipping onto the dead Ursa's back. A few seconds later, she then zips over to the chess pieces, looks at a rook, and then takes it and places it on her head… And then proceeds to sing.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She sings cheerfully as the backdrop changes to random things that I won't bother to describe, before her singing is interrupted by a loud voice, causing the backdrop to pop out of existence.

"Nora!" The guy that had apparently come out of the forest with her yells, making her stop and chuckle a bit before saluting the guy and tilting her head so the rook falls into her hands.

"Coming Ren!" The now named Nora yells back, before skipping over to him.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asks.

"I-" However, Yang is cut off from answering as another commotion starts up, and everyone turns to face the direction the noise is coming from to see the redhead from earlier in the locker room come running towards the ruins, with a _Deathstalker_ on her tail. She manages to dive through or away from all the attacks that it throws at her, steadily making her way towards the rest of us. However, our attention is brought to Ruby as she jumps from the tree she landed in and stands up next to us. "Ruby!" Yang exclaims, making the 15 year old look at her and get a large smile on her face.

"Yang!" Ruby exclaims, the two sisters going to hug each other…

"Nora!" Only for Nora to suddenly pop up in between them and spread her arms out, effectively stopping the hug before it could start. After this happens, Blake asks what I'd been thinking a few seconds ago.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" She asks everyone present. However, this proves to be the breaking point for Yang, as she lets off a frustrated yell, her eyes turning red as she looks around with her hair catching fire slightly.

"I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something _crazy_ happens again?!" She yells, making everyone present go quiet as the Ren guy that Nora was talking to earlier jogs over here, before he pauses beside the orange haired girl, and pants a bit. No doubt still winded from running after Nora as she rode the Ursa here. As this happens, I can clearly hear the sound of a clock ticking in the background, before there's a _~Ding!~_ , and Ruby tugs at her sister's sleeve a bit as she looks into the sky.

"Um, Yang?" She asks her sister, making the blonde beauty sag a bit as she realizes that she only got a few seconds of relief before we all look up to see that Ruby is pointing at Weiss "Ice Queen" Schnee… Who's currently holding onto the talon of a large Nevermore for dear life. Vaguely, I can hear her voice calling out to Ruby.

"How could you leave me?!" She yells, though it sounds like a whisper from down here as the Nevermore lets off a loud **_~Caw!~_** a few seconds later.

"I _said_ jump!" Ruby yells back.

"She's gonna fall." Blake comments, myself nodding beside her as I watch the Nevermore in the sky above us.

"She'll be fine…" Ruby says, and I watch as the girl above us loses her grip and starts to fall to the Ear- I mean… _Remnant_ below…

"She's falling…" Ren says, finally having gotten his breathing back to normal. The six of us continue to watch as Jaune suddenly jumps out of the tree that him and Ruby had landed in, and catches Weiss. However, Loony Toons physics decide to kick in at that point as they float in mid-air until Jaune notices that he's _in mid-air_ , and then they fall to the ground with Jaune landing on his stomach, while Weiss lands on his back, and starts to look at her nails in an uninterested manner. However, another sound draws my attention, and I look over to see the redhead from before finally get hit by the Deathstalker, and land on the ground in front of us.

"Great, the gang's all here. Now we can die together." Yang says in a cheerful voice, making me raise an eyebrow in response to her comment. However, Ruby speaks up before I can.

"Not if I can help it…" She says, before she starts running off towards the Deathstalker with a yell, making my eyes widen in shock while Yang reaches out towards her sister.

"Ruby wait!" The blonde beauty exclaims, but it's too late as Ruby shoots herself towards the Deathstalker with extra momentum thanks to her sniper-scythe, but ends up being hit away by the giant Grimm regardless. As she pushes herself to her feet, she faces us with a "reassuring" smile.

"Don't-don't worry! Totally fine!" She calls out to us, before turning around to find the Deathstalker standing right behind her, and attempts to shoot it in the face. However, all that accomplishes is launching her further away from it, while her bullet bounces off the hardened bone plating on the exterior of the giant Grimm's body. When this happens, Ruby quickly starts running towards us, compacting **Crescent Rose** as the Deathstalker lets off a loud screech of anger and charges after her. As she does this, Yang and I start running forwards to meet her, myself throwing away the fact that people are watching so that I can get to Ruby and keep her off the lunch menu of the giant Deathstalker.

"Ruby!" Yang yells at her sister as we continue to run towards her, the girl in question looking over her shoulder at the Deathstalker that's continuing to charge at her. As we continue to run, we notice, and hear, the Nevermore from earlier start flying after Ruby, and Yang puts on a burst of speed that leaves me in the dust as she charges towards Ruby. However, as she does this, the Nevermore stops flying momentarily to launch a salvo of feathers towards Ruby, each of them showing that they have a sharp tip as they impact the ground, one keeping Ruby pinned as it goes through her cloak. A few seconds later, Yang is forced to skid to a halt to keep herself from being impaled by more of the feathers. "Ruby get out of there!" Yang yells desperately as I continue to get closer to her and Ruby.

"I'm trying!" Ruby yells back as she tugs at her cloak in an attempt to free it from the giant bird feather keeping it stuck into the ground. However, as she tries this, the Deathstalker finally gets close to her, and raises its stinger. Everyone's eyes widen at this, thinking that Ruby may just…

 _Die…_

For me, everything slows down, the stinger shooting through the air, Yang calling out Ruby's name in fear, the gasps of fear from everyone behind me, even Weiss slows down as I see her getting ready to run and save Ruby. However, in my mind, Weiss doesn't have a shot. The stinger is falling too fast, and Weiss is too far away.

When that thought goes through my mind, something inside me snaps. At this moment, I don't care anymore… I don't care if everyone will hate me after this. I don't care if I reveal who I am to the people here who don't know. I don't care if I end up being the most hated and/or feared at Beacon because of my Semblance. I don't care that Ruby might live anyway because she's a Main Character… I don't care…

 _Because I_ won't _let Ruby die!_

Then, time resumes for me and I activate my weapon… and my Semblance.

* * *

 **3rd Person POV:**

* * *

Everyone watches as the stinger falls towards Ruby, fear in their eyes as they believe that she's going to die. Yang watches with even more fear in her eyes, thinking that she's about to see her sister taken from her in front of her very eyes. Weiss's own eyes widen, and she goes to grab her rapier to save Ruby. She may have disliked the girl for what she might have done had it not been for that other teen, but she wouldn't let her just _die_. But, before she can even touch the metal on her rapier, she suddenly sees a black blur go shooting past her, at speeds that she couldn't believe, and wouldn't be able to rival even with her glyphs.

Yang's eyes fill with tears as she watches the stinger get closer and closer to her little sister, not wanting to see Ruby taken away from her. She'd never known her birth mother, and she'd lost Ruby's birth mother… She couldn't lose Ruby too. And then, her eyes widen when a black blur suddenly dashes through the large feathers separating her from her sister, some of said feathers being snapped when the object simply runs through them, and only one word escapes her lips in a breathless whisper when she realizes what's happening. "Zach…"

For Ren, Nora, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Blake, their own eyes widen when they watch the black blur blow clean through the feathers, on a one way trip to the Deathstalker that currently has its stinger heading towards Ruby, intent on piercing straight through her and killing her. However, even as the object moves at blinding speeds, their eyes are drawn to the glint of sunlight on the right side of the fast moving object, which only gets brighter as time goes on. That's when they realize that whatever it is that has the sunlight reflecting off it, is growing as the object gets closer and closer to the Deathstalker. And then, when it reaches the giant Grimm…

 ** _~Clang!~_**

 ** _~Squelch!~_**

…

…

…

…

…

Every other Huntsman and Huntress in training stares wide eyed at the scene in front of them. The sight being Zach, who was the object moving at blinding speeds, standing with a slouch just in front of Ruby. However, their attention is brought to the _large_ weapon that's covering the entirety of his right arm, which looks like a very large, curved blade connected to red and black tendrils that have taken the place of his arm, giving the teen a very frightening look.

However, their attention is also brought to the tail of the Deathstalker, the stinger of which is now piercing the dirt instead of Ruby. As they continue to look at the scene in front of them, the people who had seen what happened can only gape at the situation. After Zach had sprinted between Ruby and the Deathstalker's stinger, he'd used the large blade that was now his arm to divert the tail, and make it impact the ground beside them instead. Effectively saving Ruby's life. After a few seconds, the Deathstalker seems to realize this as well, and tugs its tail free of the ground, before letting off an ear splitting screech at the Huntsman in training standing in front of it.

In response, Zach simply glares up at the giant Grimm, swinging his new sword-arm in front of him so that it's at his side, the tip almost touching the ground. "You tried to kill Ruby… Consider yourself dead you overgrown scorpion." He says in a whisper that's filled with malice, just before he bends slightly… And propels himself towards the Deathstalker, his sword-arm leaving a trail in the ground as he goes, before he slides to the left to dodge the Deathstalker as it attempts to catch him in one of its claws, and then run under the offending limb to slice at a few of the Grimm's legs as he runs by it, getting another screech of anger from the Deathstalker, only mixed with a bit of pain this time. The Deathstalker quickly turns around to face Zach, but the teen simply slides underneath it as it does so, slicing his giant sword-arm across its underbelly as he does so, getting another pained screech out of the Grimm as it slumps to the ground after he gets to the other side.

He stares at the thing for a few seconds, before nodding to himself as the giant sword-arm suddenly starts to condense, and his regular arm can be seen once again as the red and black tendrils slither under his clothes, and the blade breaks apart into separate pieces as said pieces follow the black and red tendrils and hide underneath his clothes. However, no one present is exactly sure how something of that size was able to condense into such a small space, not even Yang even though she'd known about the weapon already, since **Crescent Rose** wasn't able to. Then, they all snap out of their surprise and all run towards Zach, since he's currently ripping the Nevermore feather that was keeping Ruby pinned to the ground out of the dirt as if it was nothing. However, only Yang notices some red and black tendrils wrapped around his arm as he chucks it to the side.

After Zach does this, Ruby suddenly leaps up, and hugs him around the waist. In response, Zach simply puts his left arm around her shoulders in comfort, while the other rests on her head. As the others run towards the two, they get close enough to hear Zach talking in a soothing voice to her. "It's alright Ruby… You're okay now… You know neither me nor Yang would let that thing hurt you…" He whispers to her, the girl in his arms slightly trembling from what just happened, though not crying. After a few more seconds, Ruby pulls back with a large smile on her face.

After she pulls away, the two look at the group standing beside them. However, before anything else can be done, Yang runs up to Ruby and pulls her into her own hug. "I'm so happy you're okay!" The older sister exclaims, before releasing her sister and turning to face Zach. "Zach… Thank you." She thanks him, making him give her a bit of a smile in response, just before she walks over and gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Not like the one she'd given him the night before, but one that showed him just how much she was grateful for what he'd done.

Then, as she pulls back to stand by Ruby, Zach flinches slightly, and turns to face the rest of the group.

* * *

 **Zach's POV:**

* * *

I flinch when I remember that there are other people around, and slowly turn to face them. I might not have given them an actual good look at my Semblance, but with how my weapon was modeled, it wouldn' t take much for them to realize it. However, when I face them… All I see are smiles. This surprises me, but I take advantage of the situation if it will keep me from being completely hated by everyone there. So, my normal seclusion takes a back seat so that no questions will be asked.

"Alright guys, I might've been able to knock that thing out of the running for a while, but it's gonna get back up. And with all that hardened bone plating it has, it's not gonna be possible to take it out as it is right now. We'll need it awake to do that." I explain, making everyone else focus on the task at hand as well, right before we all hear a loud bird call above us, making us look into the air and see the Nevermore flying overhead.

"Guys, that thing's circling back!" Jaune exclaims, pointing at the Nevermore as it flies in a large arc, doing just what Jaune said and heading back towards us. "What are we gonna do?" He asks us, his arm still pointing as his voice takes on a slightly frightened tone.

"Look. There's no sense in dillydallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss says, looking pointedly at the chess pieces still sitting on the podiums in the ruins of the forest temple behind us, making Ruby nod in agreement.

"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby says. When she says this, the others think about it, while Jaune simply nods his head.

"Run and live… That is an idea I can get behind." He says as he points at himself, while I look at the others in the group.

"For those of you who don't like the sound of that… Think of this more as a tactical retreat in order to gain a better advantage for if we have to face them again before we reach the cliffs." I tell them with a shrug, making everyone else, who didn't already agree with Ruby's plan, nod in agreement. Then, Ruby walks over and grabs the second white Knight piece that was left, while Jaune grabs the leftover Rook. However, after they do this, we all hear the Deathstalker let off a quiet screech, telling us that it's starting to wake up, if only a little.

"Time we leave." Ren says, getting nods from everyone else in agreement.

"Right. Let's go." Ruby says, everyone else nodding as they follow her, me and Yang staying behind for a few second to smile at Ruby as she continues to run. As Blake starts to pass us, she stops, and walks over with confusion in her eyes… Though the back of my mind wonders why they're gold, and seem to be a bit different than mine and Yang's. But, I'm forced to focus once again on the situation at hand when the girl speaks up.

"What is it?" She asks us, before turning to look in the same direction we're looking to see Ruby standing on top of a rock, almost heroically, before she jumps off and continues to lead the way for the rest of us.

"Nothing…" Yang replies, before taking off after Ruby, leaving me and Blake for a few seconds, before we follow her. Though, Blake seems to have a knowing look in her eyes, as well as her smile, as we follow the blonde beauty.

 _You've come so far Ruby._ I think to myself with a smile, referring to the fact that just yesterday, she would have been nervous as hell to even _talk_ to a new person, and yet here she is, leading the rest of us to the end of our initiations. It really made me and Yang proud of her and what she's managed to do. And as we continue to follow her, my smile grows a bit. _And I'm sure you'll just continue to go further._

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: Well guys, that's it for this chapter. And now, if you guys don't know how it is that I've written out Zach… Well, I don't know what to say besides you'll find out for sure next chapter. Anyways, other than that, I think this chapter went pretty well, don't you guys think? I mean, I managed to get in a good chunk of reading for you guys, writing almost 1,000 more words than last chapter. Oh yeah, speaking of last chapter, I've gone back and changed something important, so make sure you look for that…**

 **I'll admit, there was one part that I had to re-write, and that was the part where Zach faced off against the Deathstalker. The first time around, I pretty much had him completely wreck it into a state of it almost being dead. However, I re-did that for two reasons. The first being, I don't want to make Zach extremely OP right now, while the second is that as you guys can see, I cut it off just before the big fight. The reason for this is because I want that to take up a majority of the next chapter, and save all the _real_ action until then.**

 **Since Zach is being added to all this, you can expect major changes to fight scenes, though not every time. Also, something I'd like to ask you guys. Pairings. I don't mean this as in the romantic pairings of this story, I already have those pretty much found out! I mean pairings for the team. Like how Ruby ends up coming up with "Checkmate" for Weiss and Blake working together, "Ice Flower" For her and Weiss, and so on. So, I need ideas for names whenever Zach is working with one of the girls. Granted, I'd suggest you guys wait until at least the end of next chapter, since I'll also be going into Zach's story a bit more, and it'll give you a bit more insight on him, his Semblance, and his background so that you can come up with better pairing names.**

 **Anyways, I think that's about all I have to say, so I'll get to the replies for the reviews you guys gave me!**

 ***Guest* June 22nd, 2015:**

Thanks a lot! I hope that I'll continue to keep you entertained through the rest of this story, as well as the one(s) that follow! (Yes, I'm doing the same as most of my other stories and separating seasons (or volumes in this case) into different stories.)

 **Anime PJ:**

Well seeing as you've been with me for so long, I'd sure hope that you'd get what's going on here. And it's nice to know that this was a nice thing to surprise you. As for the personalities, thank you for verifying how I've done with them. As for Zach's personality, it's something new that I'm trying, but with how his backstory is, it's kinda how he's gonna be around people, at least for a little while.

The censored last name…? I have no idea what you're talking about… It's not like the number of stars equals the number of letters… No, it's absolutely nothing like that…

But, it's still nice to know that you like it so far, and I hope that I can continue to entertain you through the rest of it!

 **KaijuKyurem:**

Thanks for the compliment! As for the next chapter, here it is only a day later! So I hope you enjoyed it!

 **Phoenix Commander:**

It's nice to know that the fourth wall breaking wasn't over the top, since I know it's nice for humor and all, but I also know that too much will just lead to bad things all around… (I think the only exception to that is Deadpool…) But, as for where this story goes, you'll just have to wait and see. It's nice to know that you've liked it so far, and I hope you liked this chapter just as much, and will like the ones that follow even better!

 **SPARTAN-626:**

It's nice to know that you like this so far! I'll definitely be going more into Zach and everything that has to do with him during the original chapters that I write in, and I hope you like the way that I end up writing him out. As for more chapters, here's the second, and more should hopefully be on the way!

 **Well, that's it for reviews guys, so thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next time!**

 **(Updated July 25th, 2015: Well, not much changed in this chapter either. But, I figured that this chapter was pretty much good as it was, so I kept it relatively the same. Granted, I _did_ add or change a few details throughout the chapter, but not too many. Anyways, like I said, not that much changed in this chapter, so I'll let you guys get on to reading the next one.)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Classic Boss Battles, And A Promise Fulfilled**

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 **Author's Note Part 1: Well guys, in case you couldn't tell by the amount of time I'm spending on getting out chapters, I'm _really_ getting into this. So, in this chapter, we get to the fighting scene that takes place in the ruins just under one part of Beacon Cliff. Now, there _are_ going to be a few things changed since Zach is a part of this, so don't expect _everything_ to go like it did in canon.**

 **Also, this is the chapter that will answer some people's questions about Zach's Semblance, as well as what else his weapon can do. Yes, much like every other weapon in RWBY, his is also able to change its form. However, it _will_ be pretty different from some of the other weapons… Oh, and for those of you who were thinking "how the hell did his giant blade fit under his clothes?!" last chapter, but didn't ask in the review section, let me just remind you that in volume 2, Coco's fucking giant-ass _mini-gun_ compacted into a _briefcase_. So, I stand by that fact and use it to declare that Zach's weapon can fit under his clothes, on a single arm.**

 **Something else for you guys to know is that Secluded!Zach, will be sticking around for a little while, but he _will_ eventually start to act like his normal self, of which you got a glimpse of when him and Yang were alone, and will get another glimpse of during this chapter. However, for now that's only going to happen when he's around Yang, Ruby or both of them. He's still gonna be secluded around Blake, Weiss and everyone else, but slowly but surely he'll break out of his shell that he's created around himself. And it will really start around one particular original arc that I've come up with. Said arc being the reason that I changed the amount of time that Zach knew Yang and Ruby from 10 years to 3…**

 **Also, in case you couldn't tell from the title, much more fourth wall breaking is on the way from one of our main characters, along with the first of many scenes that I'm sure most of you have been waiting for ever since you saw this was an OC x Yang pairing. For those of you who _know_ how Yang is, but might not have exactly been searching for this in the multiple stories out there, then you should still know what I'm talking about.**

 **Anyways, for those of you who've read this part, I thank you for actually putting up with my rambling, and your reward for reading this Author's Note is knowing about stuff that the people who skip this _won't_ know for a little while. But for now, let's get to the actual chapter, shall we?**

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 **Zach's POV:**

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The nine of us continue running through the Emerald Forest towards the base of one area of Beacon Cliff, but we're all forced to hide behind pillars that are in the ruins beneath the cliffs when the Nevermore flies over us and lands on a larger section of the same ruins further ahead. I hide out of sight with Ruby and Yang, while Jaune hides with the redhead, who I now know is Pyrrha, Weiss hides with Blake, and Ren hides with Nora.

However, it doesn't do us any good as the Nevermore lets off a loud screech, letting us know that it already knows that we're there, and it's just waiting for us to reveal ourselves so that it can strike. "Well that's great." Yang comments, saying exactly what I'm thinking as I hum in agreement, just before the sound of trees breaking reaches our ears, and we all turn in the direction that the sound came from to see the Deathstalker is back, and it's letting off an angered screech of its own as it charges at us, cuts visible on the legs on its right side that have dried blood trailing down to the bottom of said legs.

 _Great. Two large Grimm against nine teenagers, about to fight in the middle of large ruins… Yup, this is boss fight material if I've ever seen any._ I think to myself as I mentally roll my eyes since this would turn out one of two ways. Either we all make it out of here and celebrate later, or we lose one or two of us and instead of celebrating, we're all silent for the rest of the day even if we get congratulated for making it out of here alive. However, I'm brought out of my musings when Jaune speaks up from the other side of the ruins.

"Oh man, run!" He exclaims, running out from behind cover with Pyrrha as the two of them head towards the larger structure that the Nevermore is perched on, the rest of us following them since that's the only place we can head that would get us away from the Deathstalker currently charging us. However, as we do this, the Nevermore lets off another screech, and starts to rise itself up into the air. As it does this, I hear Ren start talking behind us.

"Nora, distract it!" He exclaims, and I look over my shoulder to see the orange haired girl in question nod in acknowledgment as she starts running straight across the space between the pillars of the ruins, perpendicular to the direction that the rest of us are running, successfully getting the large Grimm's attention as it releases another barrage of feathers just like last chapter towards her, all of which miss the girl as she runs and leaps by and over them as they impact the ground around her.

When the Nevermore stops firing feathers at her, Nora stops running, and turns towards the large Grimm with her weapon ready, said weapon being a grey and pink grenade launcher, which she then precedes to fire at the overgrown bird. This makes the large Grimm give off a pained screech as the ammo explodes against it, before it starts to fly around the area in order to dodge the grenades being fired at it, and allowing us to continue running towards the ruins that it was previously perched on.

 _Well, that's the first healthbar gone. Too bad we don't know just how many it has…_ I think to myself as I notice that Ren, Blake and Weiss are staying behind us, the former two attacking the Deathstalker as it closes in on Nora to keep it away from her, while Weiss uses, what I assume to be, her Semblance to get the orange haired girl away from the danger zone. After they grab Nora, they run after the rest of us with the Deathstalker once again chasing them, though thankfully it's quite a few yards away due to Ren and Blake attacking it. However when we reach the bridge that separates the larger section of the ruins from the forest, Pyrrha suddenly stops and turns around to face the four as she holds her weapon, which is a metallic rifle and not in its spear form at the moment, and aims it at the approaching Deathstalker.

"Go! Go!" She exclaims, shooting the Deathstalker as it comes closer, Ren joining her as he fires his pistols once he runs next to her, with Blake closing in on them a few seconds later. The raven haired girl jumps onto the bridge just in time as the Deathstalker clasps its pincers together in the spot she was previously standing. We continue running along the bridge, all of us thankful for the fact that the overgrown scorpion wouldn't be able to walk over it, and therefore couldn't follow us.

However, that relief is quickly replaced by fear when the Nevermore makes a strafing run, breaking the bridge apart and creating a large hole as the pieces fly off in different directions, Pyrrha, Ren and Blake getting thrown onto the side that the Deathstalker is standing next to, while Ruby, Yang, Jaune, Nora and Weiss are thrown onto the other side, which is closer to the cliff, and has the larger ruins attached. As for me, I was unfortunately standing on one of the pieces that got thrown in a different direction, and my eyes widen when I get thrown off it and start falling towards the chasm below.

Thinking quickly, I turn around in the air to look up at where everyone else is, waiting until the Nevermore passes out of my line of sight, and activate my weapon. However, instead of creating my large blade like I did when I was facing the Deathstalker before, my weapon instead changes so that the red and black tendrils cover my forearm and hand, with multiple blades pointing out of the front where my hand is, one of said blades being longer than the rest. Then, that blade is shot towards the ruins that the larger group is standing on, a long whip made of the same red and black tendrils following it with the smaller blades pointing outwards, creating a bladed whip as the longer blade stabs into the bottom of the bridge, and allows me to swing myself onto said bridge, joining the larger group.

I land just in time to see Nora change her grenade launcher into a hammer, and slam it down onto a piece of the bridge just in front of me, catapulting Jaune onto the other side as she stands on her weapon and pulls the trigger present on the hammer's handle, launching a grenade from the hammer part and sending her over to the other group, the blast propelling her high enough so that she can pull the hammer back over her head, and land a solid hit on the _Deathstalker's_ head when she brings it down as she lands, effectively dazing it, and then pulling the trigger once again, launching a grenade point blank into the top of the thing's head, making it slam into the bridge and let off a screech of pain as she flips in the air from the blast, and then lands on the bridge in front of the overgrown scorpion.

Unfortunately, the explosion just makes it snap out of the daze she'd previously put it in, and angers it so that it attempts to stab her with its stinger, making her jump back to avoid it only to slide into Blake, and send her falling off the broken part of the bridge towards the chasm below. My eyes widen even as Ruby and Yang continue to fire at the Nevermore as it flies above us, before I let off a quiet sigh of relief when Blake uses her weapon in a similar way to how I used my own to stop herself from falling. However, unlike me, she uses her weapon to fling herself up onto the back of the Nevermore as it makes another pass, allowing her to run along its back and attempt to cut multiple gashes in its body before she jumps off and lands in front of Ruby, and then jumps away and lands a on a different piece of the ruins near Yang.

"It's tougher than it looks!" She exclaims, letting us know that her attempts at cutting through the large Grimm's skin didn't work. I wince at that, before turning towards the Grimm as I stand on the other side of Yang while she readies **Ember Celica**.

"Then let's hit it with everything we've got." The blonde beauty says, making the others nod as they get ready to use their firearm versions of their weapons. When they do this, I let a smirk make its way onto my face, despite being around other people besides Yang and Ruby, and hold out my own weapon in front of me.

"Sounds good to me." I say, before allowing my weapon to transform into its own firearm form. When this happens, the blades of the weapon retract, before shifting around with the red and black tendrils to form a gun that was unlike the traditional ones that were seen in the military, or the ones that the other's weapons transformed into. Instead, the red and black tendrils coated my hand and forearm, with the blades positioning themselves over certain areas of the tendrils, covering most of it and making it _look_ sort of like a gun. At the front, three of the blades were positioned in a windmill-like way, with the barrel of the weapon in the middle. **(I couldn't find a very descent picture for how to describe it, but imagine the Reaper Cannon from Crysis 3 with every part except for the metal ones made of the red and black tendrils. As for the metal parts, just imagine them as being silver since they're essentially made out of the blade pieces for this.)**

After my weapon has changed, we all fire upon the Nevermore as it closes in on our location. Ruby fires her bolt-action sniper-scythe, Yang fires her shotgun-gauntlets, Blake fires her pistol-katana, and Weiss fires dust-ammo from her rapier. Meanwhile, I simply pull the trigger inside of my weapon, and let it spew out the automated rounds in a wave of bullets, the three blades at the end spinning in a circle as the bullets are shot out at a constant rate. We all manage to hit the large Grimm as it flies towards us, but unfortunately it's not enough as the Nevermore crashes through the support pillars underneath us, sending pieces of rubble from the ruins falling towards the lower levels, as well as the chasm below.

When it does this, the five of us are forced to use the falling debris in our own ways to get higher, and stop ourselves from falling with it. Ruby uses **Crescent Rose** to fire bullets against the different rubble pieces, launching herself from one to the next, while Yang fires **Ember Celica** into each piece of rubble that she encounters, either breaking apart ones that would fall on her, or launching herself off pieces in order to get higher. Meanwhile, Blake runs vertically up one of the intact support pillars, and Weiss uses her Semblance to push off glyphs that she creates in mid-air.

As they do this, I let my weapon once again change into its more whip-like form, and use it to stab into different pieces of rubble, pulling myself up onto a taller part of the ruins while letting it shift into the large blade form whenever I encounter a large piece of rubble that falls in my path so that I can cleave it in two, before letting my weapon become whip-like once again, and pulling myself up onto the ruins.

A few seconds later, Yang propels up to the same place as me using **Ember Celica** , and we share a smirk as I change my weapon back into its firearm form, and we each start to fire upon the Nevermore as it passes by, her rounds exploding against the feathers on the giant Grimm, while I simply let my bullets tear into the thing at a constant rate, hoping to do more damage than I did last time. After a few seconds, I change my weapon once again, letting it change into its large blade form, before jumping, and putting my foot on **Ember Celica** as Yang fires another shot, this time the exploding round launching myself towards the Nevermore. I guess this would be a good time to mention that the bottoms of my combat boots are covered in steel so that they don't get blown up by the shot.

As I fly towards the giant Grimm, I pull back my blade, before slicing it across the thing's back as I come down, also stomping my combat boots on the thing's back, making it let off a screech of pain, before it arcs in the air, succeeding in throwing me back onto the ruins next to Yang. However, I notice that there's a bit of blood on my large blade, meaning that I managed to cut into the Nevermore, if only a little. As I stand back up, Yang continues to fire upon the large Grimm, before it arcs around in the air and flies back towards us. When it does this, me and Yang share a glance, before we smirk as we each jump into the air as the Nevermore closes in one us with a loud screech.

When Yang jumps, she does so in a way that lets her land on the Grimm's mouth, holding it open with her feet and her left hand, while her right fires **Ember Celica** into the Grimm's open mouth. "I! Hope! You're! Hun-gry!" She exclaims, firing each time she yells. While she does this, I let my blade turn into a whip once again, and unravel it so that I can wrap it around the Nevermore's neck, the blades that are along the rope-like part digging into the feathers, and hopefully the skin.

When I do this, I hear the Nevermore let out a pained screech, telling me that I'm succeeding in either cutting into its neck, or choking it. Either way, it brings a smirk to my face as I realize that I'm damaging it… Or it could be because of Yang shooting the thing's throat and by extension its stomach. However, the Grimm suddenly starts to flap its wings randomly, causing it to jerk around in the air, and it ends up throwing Yang out of its mouth, and onto the ruins below. I grit my teeth as I attempt to stay on the Grimm's back, but it gets harder as it flies through another large piece of the ruins, making me slip off its back, and fall off as rubble rains down in the air around the two of us. However, I'm lucky since I'd wrapped my weapon around the Nevermore's neck multiple times, allowing me to swing around onto the Grimm's back once again, while at the same time choking it more.

When I land on its back again, I grimace a little when I realize that if it continues to randomly fly around, then I'm gonna end up being thrown off it again, and I won't be able to just swing back onto it. So, with that in mind and a frown on my face, I activate my semblance once again, but this time, the effects are plainly visible for anyone and everyone to see. I lift my left hand into the air and suddenly, it changes colors into a mixture of black and red, before changing into black and red _tendrils_. Now, unlike my weapon that _covers_ my right hand in red and black tendrils, this time, my left hand is _actually changing_ into the tendrils, before it suddenly becomes a much larger palm, and five claws take the place of my fingers as the tendrils also take the place of my arm, and blades are pointing in all directions. The hand itself has long claws that are long, silver, curved and _very_ sharp.

With another grimace due to the effects clearly being seen, I use my weapon to pull the bird to the left, making it let off another choked screech, before I bring my clawed hand down, succeeding in using the claws to severe the Grimm's left wing from its body, and sending the feathered appendage down onto the ruins below, while the Nevermore attempts to continue to fly, but ultimately fails as it instead hits into the cliff that I'd been directing it too. When it hits into the rock, I leap off the Grimm, my left hand changing back to normal as my weapon recedes under my clothing. After a few seconds of free-falling, I land on the ruins once again, creating another small crater much like when I landed in the forest at the beginning of initiations, and then look up and take in the situation before me.

Blake and Yang are each on pillars that are across from one another, with the rope for Blake's weapon stretched out between them. After I look back at the downed Nevermore, I turn back around and start running towards the two, and see Ruby use **Crescent Rose** to shoot herself onto the rope, just as Weiss creates a glyph behind the rope, before changing its color from white to black a second later, causing it to keep the rope in place instead of shoot it towards the large Grimm immediately. I notice that Ruby and Weiss appear to exchange a few words as the heiress keeps my little sister figure in place, before Ruby shoots **Crescent Rose** as Weiss changes the glyph, said glyph actually changing to a red color at that point, allowing Ruby to launch herself towards the Nevermore with the extra force from the rope that she'd been on.

I stop running to watch as Ruby continues to shoot **Crescent Rose** as she flies through the air, ending up with her feet on the cliff, while the Nevermore's neck is kept in place by her sniper-scythe. However, as I continue to watch, a line of white glyphs appear from where she's standing all the way to the top of the cliff, and Ruby immediately starts to shoot **Crescent Rose** as she uses the glyphs that Weiss has provided for her to run up the cliff face, until she reaches the top, encountering resistance between the Nevermore's neck and her sniper-scythe… Just before she decapitates the large Grimm.

Me and the other first years watch as the body of the overgrown bird falls down the cliff face, while the head lands up on top with Ruby. As the body falls into the chasm below, we all see Ruby walk up to the edge of the cliff as her cloak flaps in the wind and red rose petals swirl around her. A few seconds later Yang, Blake and Weiss all walk over to stand next to me and stare up at my little sister figure.

"Well… That was a thing." Yang comments, making me quietly chuckle as I once again make sure that my hood is covering most of my face, since Blake and Weiss are both sending glances my way, no doubt because of my Semblance. When Yang notices, she gives another sigh, before walking over and throwing an arm over my shoulders, making me tense up for a second, before I slightly relax when I realize who it is. "Come on Zach…" She says, making me give my own sigh as I subconsciously attempt to seem smaller.

"I know Yang… But it's just… It's gonna take me a while… Especially with what I just did." I tell her in a whisper, making her sigh once again, before giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"I know Zach… I just hope it doesn't take too long." She whispers back, myself nodding in agreement.

"You're not the only one." I respond, before everyone's attention is grabbed by the airship that's currently lowering itself to the ground on top of the cliff, making all of us who are still underneath the cliff sigh as we start to slowly make our way towards Beacon Cliff, knowing it's gonna take us a while to get to the top. As we walk, the sight of the wing I'd severed from the Nevermore catches my attention, and I watch as it slowly starts to dissipate into the air…

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"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkayrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as… Team Juniper." Ozpin says, making the crowd of shades currently gathered in the auditorium, along with me, Yang, Blake, Weiss and Ruby, erupt into applause as Nora hugs Ren onstage. "Led by… Jaune Arc!" Ozpin announces making the teen in question look at him in shock as everyone who's cheering claps louder at what the headmaster says.

"Huh? Led by?" Jaune asks in shock as he places a hand on his chest.

"Congratulations young man." Ozpin replies simply, while Pyrrha goes on to give him a friendly punch to the shoulder… Only to send him falling to the floor. This causes the audience to have a good laugh, right before the newly made team leaves the stage and allows us to walk on. "And finally… Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, and Zach Mercer." Ozpin says, causing the auditorium to go silent as the five of us stand on the stage, pictures of us clear for everyone to see on the holo-screens above us.

"The five of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you shall be known as… Team Rubies." He says making the others smile as I simply give a small smile of my own, subconsciously checking to make sure my hood is up since there's now complete silence in the room, and I can tell it's because every shade present is staring at me.

"Led by… Ruby Rose." Ozpin says, making me give an actual smile beneath my hood as Yang moves over to give her shocked younger sister a hug, while the audience doesn't exactly erupt into applause like they had for Team JNPR, but instead the shades quietly clap. However, I already know that's because I'm a part of "Team RWBYZ". As it turns out, not only did the rest of my team, as well as Team JNPR, know about my Semblance, but apparently it was impossible for me to hide it from _anyone_ since the initiations were put up on holo-screens around Beacon for the other grades to watch, and I'd been on the screen on during some points, one of which was during the time that I morphed my left hand to cut off the Nevermore's wing. I'm just glad that mine and Yang's first meeting during the initiation wasn't shown…

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an… Interesting year." Ozpin comments as he looks at Yang and Ruby, then me, and then the audience as they continue to quietly clap for my teammates. I say my teammates, because I know that no one, except maybe Team JNPR, is clapping for my success. Of course… I wasn't expecting anyone to. I was fully expecting this kind of reaction from the audience. Although, it seems that Yang wasn't if her frown as she moves to stand next to me is any indication.

When the ceremony eventually ends, everyone heads off for their rooms. However, when we arrive at ours, we find something interesting waiting for us… There's only four beds in the room. When we all walk in and see this, we stop and stare at the sight in front of us. "Um…" Ruby says with a slightly nervous smile on her face, while the rest of us share glances. However, as we do this, I notice something out of the corner of my eyes, and walk over to a door that's present on the right wall. However, when I open the door, I immediately get a smile on my face, and turn around to face the rest, but focus on Yang and Ruby.

"Well, that's the sleeping problem taken care of." I say as I turn around and walk through the door, making the four others follow me, and cause their eyes to widen when they see what I saw when I first opened the door. That being a medium sized walk in closet, which had been changed so that it was rectangular in shape, the left and right walls being the shorter ones when you walked through the door, with a bed set against the left wall, while a good amount of space on the longer wall that didn't have the door was filled up with shelves for my things as I put my suitcase against one of said shelves near the back right corner.

The floor was covered in a black carpet, identical to the one in the main room that the girls are sleeping in, while the bed on the far left wall is identical to theirs as well, the pillow being against the wall that doesn't have the door. I smile to myself as I continue to look around, taking off my jacket and hoodie and placing them on the coat hangers inside of the room, while taking my combat boots and placing them on one of the lower shelves so that I wouldn't risk stepping on them if I ended up getting up in the middle of the night. _I've gotta remember to thank professor Ozpin when I see him next. No doubt he's behind this since he probably knows about my issue. After all, the man knows pretty much_ everything _about_ everyone _in Beacon, and possibly Vale._ I think to myself as I walk out into the girl's part of the room, before the five of us walk over to the other side, and open a door on the left wall near the back of the room to find…

"A bathroom?!" We all exclaim, myself shocked enough to actually yell instead of quietly raise my eyebrows in surprise. It was set up like your traditional bathroom, except it was a bit smaller. It had a toilet against the far left wall on the same side as the door, a sink next to it, as well as a bath that doubled as a shower across from the wall with the door. The floor and walls were covered in white tiles, while the ceiling was simply painted white. After we walk out, each of the girl's sits down on a bed, with myself leaning against the wall next to the door leading to my part of our room.

 **(Alright, at this point in time, I'd like to give the reason for changing the room from canon. That reason being… Zach. Now, because Zach, a guy, is with four other girls, I think that practically every professor in the school would agree that it would be a good idea to make changes to their room so that they could all sleep with peaceful minds and not have to worry about sharing a room with the different gender. However… There's one thing that they didn't take into account…)**

"I can't believe that they made it so that we can have separate parts for the room…" Blake comments, making Weiss look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, what else did you expect? I mean, _he's_ a part of our team. You don't really think that they'd expect us to share a room with _him_ , do you?" She asks, gesturing over to me, making me flinch and want to shrink in on myself yet again. Of course Weiss has to say this. No doubt they're gonna want answers… If they don't know them already. At the heiress's question, Blake turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow, before opening her mouth to speak.

However, before anything else can be said, Yang stands up, and walks over to stand next to me as she turns around to face the others. "Well I'm not sure about you two, but _I_ wouldn't mind it, and I know that Ruby wouldn't either… In fact, I _don't_ mind it. Which is exactly why I'm going to do just that." She says with a smile on her face, before I'm suddenly pulled into my part of the room, and Yang closes the door behind us before anyone can comment. After closing the door and locking it from the inside, which is another thing I'm gonna have to thank Ozpin for since it's unlike your normal closet, she turns around to face me with a small frown. "Zach…" She starts, making me sigh once again.

"I know Yang, it's just… You _know_ how I am around new people. Hell, just think about how I reacted when I first met you and Ruby." I reply, making her give a nod in response, the frown still on her face, before that frown changes into a small smile as she walks closer to me.

"Yeah… And _now_ look at where we are." She says as she wraps her arms around my neck, myself actually gaining a smirk to my face as she does so since in here, I don't actually think about the fact that I'm only a few yards away from other people, since the walls and door block off my sight and make it so that it seems like it's just me and Yang, allowing me to act like myself.

"Heh, I'd say that we've turned out pretty well." I agree, placing my hands at her bare waist, since she's currently still wearing her Huntress outfit, despite the fact that we'd been given our school uniforms, and that we'd brought our clothes into the main part of the room as well. In response to my statement, I get a chuckle out of Yang, before she leans forwards so that her breasts are pressing against my chest, and her lips are right next to my ear.

"You know Zach, I still have to follow through on those two promises I made to you." She whispers into my ear, before licking my earlobe, making me chuckle a bit. Trust Yang to get straight to the point and not beat around the bush with this kind of stuff. Just one of the things that I like about her. That, along with her personality in general.

"I suppose you're right beautiful." I mutter, making Yang pull back with a smirk on her face, before she pushes me so that I sit on my bed, and then straddles me as she flicks her head, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she places her hands on my own shoulders, and gives me a hungry smirk.

"But don't worry, I might be fulfilling those promises Zach…" She trails off, before leaning in so that I can see the sultry glint in her eyes. "But I'm going to make sure this is enjoyable for both of us." She whispers, and then leans in and initiates a heated kiss between us, adding her tongue a few seconds in as I return the kiss with just as much intensity as Yang lightly pushes on my shoulders, making me lean back on the bed so that she's straddling my form as she continues to French kiss me, both our eyes closed due to the pleasure that it brings us. Hey, I told you guys during the _first_ _chapter_ that we're pretty much together, and that the only thing stopping it from becoming "official" is my fear of the shades. So, here's a perfect example of _why_ we're pretty much together.

After a few minutes of lip-lock, Yang pulls back, a string of saliva trailing between our lips before it breaks, and she gives me a sultry smirk. "Now, I don't think it's very fair if you're the only one in nothing but your shirt…" She says, making me give her my own smile in response as she sits up so that she's completely straddling my form. "So… How about you help me out of this jacket?" She asks with a coy smile as she starts to unbutton the brown jacket in question, making me push myself up so that I can help her. However, as I do this, I lean forwards so that I can plant a few kisses on her neck, getting a quiet moan out of the blonde currently straddling me, before I finish with the last button on her jacket, and push it off her shoulders, making it so that all she's wearing are her pants, a yellow tank-top, and her undergarments.

As I continue to kiss her neck, she reaches up and places her hands on the back of my head, giving quiet, content moans as I make my up her neck, and across her cheek. However, before I can kiss her lips, she suddenly pulls my head back by my hair, and a few seconds later, I'm staring into her now-red eyes, which she only gets when she's either angry, or in this case, extremely excited.

" _Come here_." She says in a low growl, before pushing my lips to her own as she forces her tongue into my mouth, myself doing the same as I wrap my hands around her and place them on her back, before I'm lying back down on the bed, the two of us continuing our make-out session as I roll us over so that I'm the one on top, and bring my hands up to the sides of her head as we continue to make out on my bed, a small window just above it, the blinds of which are currently closed.

After another few minutes, Yang eventually pulls away, panting to regain her lost breath, and both of us are red in the face. However, Yang is looking up at me with a sultry smirk, which I simply return with a smirk of my own, before I let out a quiet groan when Yang suddenly leans upwards and kisses my neck, before licking from there to my ear, which she then proceeds to nibble a bit. "Come on Zach, it's been a while. And I want this to last a _long_ time tonight." She whispers into my ear in a seductive voice, before putting her head back on my bed as she gives me a seductive look, which makes me lean forwards and start another heated kiss between us as I place my hands on the bed on either side of her head.

Our make-out session goes on for a another half-hour or so, before we eventually stop, and the two of us are lying normally on the bed, with Yang resting her head on my chest while my right hand trails through her hair, getting content hums from her in response. The two of us sharing one last kiss before we drift off to sleep, but as this happens, I can't help but wonder one thing.

 _How much longer will I have to wait to actually act like this with Yang when we're not alone?... How much longer will I have to carry my burden?_

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 **Author's Note Part 2: Well guys, that's about it for this chapter. A bit shorter than the last two, but since I usually shoot for at least 5,000 words per chapter, I'd say that I'm doing fairly well. But, I guess that I should actually go over the _events_ of the chapter. So, let's go over the fight and the stuff revealed during it!**

 **As you guys can see, I've made it so that Zach's weapon has _three_ forms that it can change into! The first being a large blade, the second being a bladed whip, while the third is its gun form, which is identical to the Reaper Cannon from Crysis 3, the only real difference being what colors it is. Also, the reason that I didn't change _a lot_ during _this_ fight, is because in the series, this is basically the one that determines why Ruby is the team leader, since she came up with the plan to kill the Nevermore, and if I made it so that Zach just killed it outright, then I'd end up making _him_ the leader, and I don't want to do that.**

 **However, there's probably one moment that you guys focused on during this chapter, which is the fact that Zach's last name is _Mercer_! So yes, Zach's semblance is basically going to be the powers that Alex Mercer has in Prototype. So, knowing this, along with the hints that I've placed in this chapter, can you guess how they work in the RWBY universe? (Though if you can, don't say it in the review section, since I don't want to ruin it for others who are reading, since I'm going to reveal it during an original arc that I have planned.)**

 **Also, for those of you out there who were looking forwards to a more… _Heated_ scene between Zach and Yang, don't expect it so soon! After all, for one they're not "officially" together, and they're sharing a room with the other three! It's not like there's been soundproofing placed in the walls!... Yet…**

 **But. I'm sure there's also a question that you guys are asking. "What is Zach's burden?"… Well, you'll just have to keep reading the story to find out! But for now, I think I've gone over everything that's happened in this chapter, so let's get to the replies for the reviews from _last_ chapter!**

 **Anime PJ:**

Nice to know that I've made you like it that much more! As for your guess, I'd say that I responded to it well during the actual chapter. As for shit going down, you can expect more of that, since in my eyes, RWBY could use a bit more action, and that will be one of the main focuses of my original chapters!

Oh, and thanks for the info. I think I managed to write that in this chapter, and I'll probably go and edit the previous chapters soon.

 **KaijuKyurem:**

Nice to see you excited for this story! As for their relationship… I _think_ I managed to answer that in this chapter, but if not, then would you mind explaining what you mean by Dom-Dom relationship?

As for his last name… I think that like Anime PJ's review, I managed to answer it during the actual chapter. Anyways, thanks for the review, and I hope that you continue to like the story as it progresses!

 **SPARTAN-626:**

Nice to see you like the weapon so far! I hope that seeing what it could do this chapter made it better in your eyes, and the backstory for everything will be coming soon, especially since the time between the next couple episodes, and the ones after that, are a few weeks in between. So, that will open the door for me to write in one or two original chapters of my own.

As for your suggestion, I'll definitely take it into account, but keep in mind that we're only two Volumes into the series from Rooster Teeth. So, it depends on what they do with the ones to come. After all, we don't know everything about the Grimm, or if they have some kind of king or queen of all of them, or just _how many_ different kinds there are. So, depending on how long it takes for Volume 3 to come out, I might implement that idea, I might not.

 **Phoenix Commander:**

Yeah, but seeing as the Deathstalker was literally going to _kill_ Ruby, I'd say that it deserved what it got more than the Ursa, since even though Yang goes ballistic when her hair is damaged in any way, you'll see that for Zach, he goes even _more_ insane when people that he cares about are put in dangerous situations.

But, it's nice to see that I've got you hooked on the story, since I'm hoping to continue this story for a while to come, and I also hope that when I write in the original chapters / arcs, you'll like those just as much as my additions to canon.

 **Anyways guys, that's about all I have to say for this chapter. So, thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next time!**

 **(Updated July 25th, 2015: Well, this is the third edited chapter, which didn't have much done to it besides what I've done for the other two. As in checking for grammar mistakes, and changing a few details here and there to make this flow better now that I'm re-reading it. Other than that, the only _main_ change that I made was a little bit with his Semblance. But, if you didn't read this before, then you wouldn't notice. So, I'll just let you guys get to the next edited chapter.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Trouble Between Teammates**

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 1: Well guys, here I am writing the fourth chapter. Now, a quick thing to those of you who are reading this, who are _also_ reading my Fairy Tail/Sword Art Online story. There are a couple reasons that I haven't updated it lately, one of said reasons being more important than the other. So, the less important reason… It's hard. Literally, that's my reason.**

 **Right now I'm trying to write the fourth chapter, but with what I have planned, it's hard to incorporate it the way that I want to, so it's taking longer. As for the more important reason, it's _also_ the reason that I haven't updated my actual SAO story. It's because of the second season. See, the second season of SAO is still ongoing, and I only watch the dubbed version since it's too difficult for me to focus on what's happening onscreen, as well as read the subs. And because of how it's going so far, with more things being revealed that actually happened in the first season, as well as the fact that new situations are coming up during GGO, It's changing other plans that I had for the story (or stories) quite a bit…**

 ** _Anyways_** **, for those of you who _aren't_ reading those stories, I'm sorry about that info since it doesn't apply to you, but I'm not the kind of author who posts an "I'm sorry" chapter into stories, since I hate when author's do that because it gives us readers false hope that a new chapter is posted. So, I talk about that kind of stuff in other stories in case people are reading them, as well as the others. So, all that aside, let's get to _this_ story, shall we?**

 **For this chapter, I'm gonna be going over the events that happen during the time that Weiss has her… _Complaints_ about Ruby being leader. Now, Zach might not be changing _much_ during these events since I feel like they're pretty important to the overall plot of RWBY, but he'll have his moments in this. Especially since I've now given a slight hint to the reason that everyone hates/fears him, so I'll be able to make more references to that as the story progresses! And for those of you who have an idea of where I'm going with this, good for you!**

 **Also, you guys can expect more changes to other key parts of the series, as well as _flashbacks._ Yes, I will be having the characters have flashbacks on occasions from now on, one of which some/most of you will recognize, though it won't have to do with _his_ past, and instead _Yang's_ past… Sort of.**

 **Anyways, I guess that I'll let you guys get to actually reading this, since most of this Author's Note was basically me just telling my readers of other stories the reason for why they're taking so long to update. So, here's the fourth chapter of "Team RWBYZ"!**

* * *

 **Zach's POV:**

* * *

The next morning, I wake up to find myself staring into the eyes of a certain beautiful blonde as she holds herself up with her hands on either side of my head, who then gives me a smile when she realizes that I'm awake. "Would you look at that, sleeping beauty's awake." She comments, making me chuckle as I lift my arms and wrap them around her waist, pulling her down onto me as I do so.

"Well it's kinda hard to sleep when a certain blonde is straddling me, don't you think?" I ask her, making her give me a seductive chuckle in response.

"Well I made up one promise to you last night, I figured that I'd make up the second one before any of the others wake up." She says in a whisper, making me smirk as I flip us over so that I'm once again on top.

"Well, I don't mind." I admit, making her give me a similar smirk as she wraps her arms around my neck, and her eyes turn red.

" _~Then come here Zach~_." She says in a purr, before pulling me towards her and starting a heated kiss between the two of us as our eyes close. As it continues, my hands snake out from underneath her, and instead move to her hips as I trail them upwards, getting light moans from the blonde into our kiss, before her arms move from around my neck, and she grabs onto my shoulders. Suddenly, I feel my perspective of gravity change, and when I open my eyes, it's to find Yang's red ones staring down at me as she gives me a seductive smile. "Just because I'm repaying you doesn't mean that I can't make this enjoyable for me." She says as she leans forwards and nibbles at my ear.

I give a grunt when she does this, and I can feel her breath on my neck when she stops. "Damn Yang, I always knew that you liked it like this, but I never realized just how much." I tell her with a smirk making its way onto my face, and I hear her give a sultry chuckle into my ear.

"This is nothing Zach, just wait until we actually get together. Then you'll see _just_ how I like it." She whispers in a seductive voice before she licks my earlobe, and then starts another French kiss as she continues to keep me pinned to the bed by my shoulders. Because of this, it allows Yang to invade my mouth with her tongue, myself not bothering to fight back since with how I am now there would be no point. And Yang knows this if the smile that she's giving into our kiss is any indication.

When she eventually pulls back a few seconds later, it's to give me another seductive smile as she leans down on me once again, only this time she moves her arms and puts her forearms on either side of my head, making it so that her breasts are pressed against my chest, giving me a clear view of her cleavage since the only things that she's wearing over her breasts are her tank top and her bra. And she smirks at this fact as she presses them a bit harder against my chest. "So Zach, you liking this so far?" She asks me in a whisper, making me smirk as I stare into her red eyes, moving my hands so that they're placed on her waist yet again, except this time they're closer to her ass.

"Well, seeing as we're currently alone… I'd have to say that I like this very much, Ms. Xiao Long." I reply with a deep chuckle, making Yang purr as she narrows her eyes at me much like she did the night we arrived at Beacon.

"I like it when you say my name like that, _Mr. Mercer_." She says in a seductive tone as she leans in once again to kiss my neck. In response I simply give a deep chuckle as my hands slowly move closer to her ass, the girl- no, woman in my eyes at the moment, on top of me continuing to purr as I do so. Then, I'm about an inch away…

 ** _~Knock! Knock! Knock!~_**

And the two of us freeze at the sound of someone knocking on the door to my part of the room. "Zach! Yang! Come on, it's eight-thirty! We still need to unpack and decorate!" I hear Ruby yell at us from the other side of the door. Although, she's being slightly quiet which tells me that either she hasn't woken up the other two, or only one of the other two is awake. The two of us sigh, both of us because of the fact that we'd been interrupted. But I'm also sighing because this is going to be our first day with actual classes, and I'm once again going to be stuck multiple rooms filled with people who are going to hate and/or fear me… Great.

"We're coming Ruby." Yang replies as she looks over her shoulder at the door, and then turns around to look back down at me, her eyes once again that beautiful violet. "Well, I guess you're just gonna have to wait until later for this." She says with a smirk on her face, getting one from me as she succeeds in taking my mind mostly off the unfortunate times heading my way.

"Yeah. Well, I guess we should get up then." I say, getting a nod from Yang as she gets off the bed, and then turns around and holds out her left for me. I take it, and she pulls me into a standing position, before using her right hand to pull me into another heated kiss by my shirt. After a few seconds, she breaks it, and then leans in next to my ear again.

"You can think of that as another promise. I'm gonna make it up to you for having to postpone our time together, Mr. Mercer." She whispers in a sultry voice, making me place my hands on her bare waist.

"I look forwards to that, Ms. Xiao Long." I whisper back, before pulling away and walking past her to my suitcase. "Now, can you please get out of my room so that I can change?" I ask her, making her narrow her eyes as she walks over and leans on my back, making sure to press her breasts against it as she does so.

"Aw, but why?" She whines, making me smirk as I look over my shoulder at her.

"Because if you don't, I feel like we may end up… Being late to class, if you catch my drift." I say, whispering the last part and making her give me a pout in response, before she gives me a kiss on the cheek and then stands up and starts sauntering over to the doorway leading to the girl's part of the room with an added sway to her hips, grabbing her jacket on the way.

"Alright…" She sighs, before she looks over her shoulder at me with a smirk as she unlocks the door. "But later on… we'll have all the free time we want." She whispers in a sultry tone, before walking out into her part of the room, closing the door behind her. I simply give a smirk as I shake my head at Yang's personality, before turning back to my clothes as my smirk slips away and a frown appears on my face as I give a sigh, and I start to grab my stuff out of my suitcase.

 _And now back to my secluded self… I'm not going to be looking forwards to today, or any_ other day _this year for that matter._ I think to myself as I take out some clothes to wear, before I stop when I hear a knock on the door. "Yeah?" I ask, before it's opened and I see Yang standing there… Dressed in the school's outfit.

"Yours were out here, remember?" She asks me, making me stand up and take the folded up male version of the school uniform that she hands me as I remember that we'd been given them last night. However, after she does this, she looks down at my chest, and gets a light blush. When I follow her line of sight, I realize that I'd taken off my shirt… Meaning that my bare chest is in plain sight for her to see. "H-hot…" I hear Yang mutter, and I allow a smirk to make its way onto my face as I casually stretch a bit, getting a whine out of the buxom blonde in front of me as I notice her bite her lip while staring at my abs.

"What is it Ms. Xiao Long? You wouldn't happen to see something you like, would you?" I ask her in a low voice, and her eyes immediately fly up to mine, before she suddenly slams the door, and I can hear Ruby on the other side asking Yang why her face is all red and why she's breathing really deeply. I chuckle a bit when I realize that the reason that Yang slammed the door was to keep herself in line, before I look down at the clothes in my hand, and sigh.

 _Great. I forgot that we have to dress in the school's outfit during classes…_ I think to myself as I start to change once again, my mind partially thinking about the beautiful blonde's reaction to my bare chest, and I allow a small smile to take place of my frown. _It's nice to know that Yang appreciates how I look._ I think to myself with a slight chuckle. _Guess she didn't get a very good look a couple days ago, since we were in the Ballroom and it was almost completely dark._ I realize, before I continue to change into the school outfit.

* * *

 _This can only end badly_ I think to myself as I watch Ruby climb onto Weiss's bed as the girl in question wakes up, and yawns while stretching. However, the heiress turns slightly, and notices Ruby on her bed… Just as the leader of our team blows into her whistle, causing the Schnee to let off a startled scream as she falls onto the floor. "Goo~~~d morni~~~ng Tea~~~m RWBYZ!" Ruby exclaims as she jumps off Weiss's bed, the girl in question looking at Ruby in annoyance from her place on the floor.

"What in the world is _wrong_ with you?" Weiss asks my little sister figure, and as much as I might want to get angry at Weiss for saying that… I have a feeling I would ask the exact same thing if a whistle was suddenly blown into my ear _seconds_ after I woke up.

"Now that you're awake we can _officially_ begin our first order of business." Ruby replies with a smile as Weiss pushes herself onto her feet to glare at her, as well as me, Yang and Blake as we stand off to the side.

" _Excuse_ me?" She asks us.

"Decorating!" Yang replies with a smile, holding a large assortment of random things, some of which I don't know _how_ she got… **(Can I just take a moment to ask _how_ the _hell_ Yang got her hands on miniature versions of Pyrrha's shield, Oobleck's coffee mug/weapon, a golden king chess piece, and why she bothered keeping the "Dust for Dummies" pamphlet?)**

"What?!" Weiss exclaims in shock.

"We still have to unpack." Blake adds as she holds up her handheld suitcase… Which suddenly opens and drops the contents onto the carpeted floor. "…And clean." She adds, making Weiss continue to look at us in disbelief, until Ruby once again leans towards her and blows her whistle, making the heiress fall to the floor for the second time this morning, before my little sister figure moves to stand in front of the door that leads into the hallway.

" _Alright_! Weiss, Blake, Zach, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission! Bonzai!" She exclaims, raising her right fist into the air, before the three of us join her.

"Bonzai!" Yang exclaims.

"Bonzai!" Blake yells at the same time as Yang.

"Bonza~~~~i!" I exclaim with a large smile as I punch one fist as high as I can in the air.

The other four look at me in confusion when I yell that, Yang and Ruby looking at me in shock due to me actually _yelling_ , making I shrink in on myself once again. "What? Have none of you seen "The Karate Kid"? The original one?" I ask them, making them shake their heads and getting a sigh out of me. "Whatever…" I mutter, knowing that Weiss and Blake are concentrating on me once again, the former glaring at me for obvious reasons…

"You guys take care of that, I'm going back to my room to take care of the rest of my own stuff…" I mutter as I walk into my room, and then close the door behind me. I let off a sigh when I do this, before grabbing my suitcase, and placing it on my bed. The first thing that I grab is my weapon, which I've named **Prototype** , since I still tinker with it every now and then. Now, when it's _not_ in one of its three weapon forms, it's instead a sleeve-like object, that I slide onto my right arm, allowing it to cover said arm from my shoulder, down to my wrist. Then, I start to take out a few other things.

These items include the entire "Percy Jackson" book series, an Xbox including the controllers, a few games for the gaming console, a few movies that I can play on the Xbox, a foldable TV so that it was easily able to fit inside my suitcase, as well as a few changes of clothes, all of them being the same as my first pair, a collapsible hamper, which I proceed to open and place yesterday's clothes in, and a few other things. The last thing I take out is the schedule that we'd been given yesterday, and then open it up…

Only for my eyes to widen as I glance at the watch that I'd taken out of my suitcase and put on my wrist, and then rush to my door and fling it open to find the girl's almost finished with their part of the room. In the back of my mind I notice that the shade that goes over the window in the back has been sliced in half. However at the moment… "Hey guys." I say, making the other four turn to look at me. "We have _ten minutes_ to get to class." I tell them, making their own eyes widen, before Ruby takes out her schedule and takes a look, before raising her head and looking at the rest of us.

"To class!" She exclaims, the other four running out of our room and down the hall. However, I stop myself once I leave the room, and instead run across the hall to Team JNPR's door, which I then proceed to knock on, making it open and revealing Jaune.

"Oh, hey Zach. What's-" However, I cut him off.

"Ten minutes to class, get a move on." I say simply, and then take off after my teammates, closing the distance between us fast as we rush down the stairs and across the courtyard to the building that housed the classrooms. As we continue running, Team JNPR right behind us, I notice Ozpin and Goodwitch walking across the courtyard as well, and wave over to the headmaster. "Thanks for the room professor!" I yell, before running after the rest of my team, noticing out of the corner of my eye the small smirk that the man gives as he takes another sip of his coffee, which never runs out for Anime Logic…

* * *

Eventually, we reach the last class of the day, which is taught by Professor Port, we slide into our seats, the order being Blake, Yang, me, Weiss and then Ruby, with our leader seated next to one of the areas that were used as stairs, and wait for class to start. After a minute, the bell rings, and the man begins speaking about the school, since it's our first day here. About half an hour later, he actually starts to talk about the Grimm.

"Monsters! De~~~~amons. Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But _I_ merely refer to them, as _prey_! Ha-ha! Ha-ha." He laughs at the end, silence being the only thing to meet his statement. So, being the nice, but hated, guy I am, I quietly clap for him. In response, nearly everyone looks at me, and I stop as I attempt to shrink in on myself. However, I notice that Port seems to give me a nod of gratitude, before glancing around the class when they stare at me.

"Ahem! And you shall too upon graduating from this _prestigious_ academy." He says, gaining everyone's attention once again. "Now as I was saying, Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe-havens in an otherwise _treacherous_ world." Port tells us, making me wince a bit when he says 'other three kingdoms'. "Our planet is absolutely _teaming_ with creatures that would love nothing more than to _tear_ you to _pieces_." He continues, and I flinch a bit more at his announcement as flashes appear before my eyes.

 _Blood…_

 _Limbs…_

Creatures _all around…_

 _Yelling…_

 _Screaming…_

 _Begging…_

 _Flesh tearing…_

 _Howls…_

 _Screeches…_

Suddenly, I'm brought back into focus when Port points at Yang. " _Huntresses_." He says, before winking and giving that cliché "Tch-tch" sound, making me frown a bit as I subconsciously place my hand on Yang's as she nervously laughs and looks away from the man…

Did I mention that her hand was on top of the desk? Yeah, so now I'm doing this in plain sight of _everyone_ , and the whispering from the row behind us doesn't exactly help as Port sheepishly clears his throat while looking away from the blonde Huntress beside me.

However, as he does this, Yang turns her hand over, and squeezes my own while giving me a small smile, which I unfortunately can't return because of the whispers now circulating around the room, with glances being thrown my way by the countless shades. However, Port begins speaking once again, making the whispers get quieter, but not stop.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why, the very world!" He exclaims, and silence it what meets his announcement once again… Until the only other person who has color, besides Team RWBYZ and Team JNPR, stands up a bit.

"Ye~~~~~ah!" He exclaims, making everyone, and every shade, turn to look at him, making him sink down in his seat and be quiet.

 _Yeah, not so nice now that_ you're _being stared at, is it?_ I ask in my head, having felt what he's feeling almost every day… For the past five years.

"That is what you are training to become. But first… A story. A tale of a young, handsome man… Me!" Port says with a smile hid under his mustache.

…

Face, have you met palm? You have? Well, I feel like you two are going to be meeting each other quite a bit around Beacon…

"When I was- blah, blah blah…" He then goes on to talk about his life, but all me and the other members of Team RWBYZ can hear is something that reminds me of the adults in Charlie Brown… Until he gets to one part of the story. "…Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. "Peter", he told me. Blah, blah, blah…" He goes off again, and this time I actually partially wish that I could understand him… As long as he wasn't praising himself that is.

However, a few seconds later I hear giggling, and turn to see Ruby holding up her notes… Which has a, kind of poorly drawn, picture of Port on it, with smell lines over him… As if he smelt of cabbages. In response, I give a small smirk, while Yang giggles a bit. Especially when Ruby makes a fake fart noise. However, when this happens, Port clears his throat, making us pay attention to him once again.

"In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my _sheer_ _tenacity_. And I returned to my village with the beast in captivity, and my head held high. Celebrated! As, a hero." He tells us, before taking an actual _bow_. Yes, after telling a story about himself in a class where _we're_ learning to be Huntsmen and Huntresses.

As he stands up straight, he starts talking again. "The moral of this story? A _true_ Huntsman must be _honorable_. A true Huntsman must be _dependable._ A true Huntsman must be _strategic, well-educated,_ and _wise._ So, _who_ among you believes themselves to be the _embodiment_ of these traits?" He asks, and almost immediately Weiss' hand shoots up into the air.

"I do sir!" She exclaims, and I hold out a hand to Yang, making her grumble as she hands me twenty lien, which makes me smirk as I stash them in my leather jacket that I'm wearing over my school clothes, just like Ruby has her cloak over hers. Knowing Ice Queen as she is, I'd made a bet with Yang that she'd do something like this the first chance she got. As I continue to smirk at the outcome, Port starts replies to her answer.

"Well then. Step forward! And face your opponent!" He exclaims, gesturing to a cage on the left side of the room, which is shaking as growls come out of it, and two red eyes glare at the class through the bars, and the black drape that the professor has attached to the inside of the cage. In response, Weiss stands up, before leaving the room for a couple minutes, and then returning in her Huntress outfit. She stands at the front of the class, her rapier, which I now know is named **Myrtenaster** , held out in front of her.

"Go Weiss!" Yang cheers as she throws her fist into the air with a smile on her face.

"Fight well." Blake comments as she waves a miniature, red flag that has the letters RWBYZ written on it in white.

"Yeah! Represent Te~~~am RWBYZ!" Ruby cheers with a large smile, throwing both her arms into the air.

"Ruby! I'm _trying_ to focus!" Weiss exclaims, making Ruby stop cheering.

"Oh… Sorry." She apologizes, and I feel a bit of anger run through my veins as I glare at the heiress.

"She's just giving you _support_ Ice Queen. Besides, the cage isn't even _open_ yet." I tell her with a light glare, making her huff as she returns it with her own, before Professor Port speaks up.

"Alright. Let the match, begin! He exclaims as he slices the cage's lock off with his weapon, which is a blunderbuss with two axe blades attached at the end. When he does this, a Borbatusk charges out, making Weiss dodge it as she attempts to slice its side, only for **Myrtenaster** to do nothing as it bounces off the overgrown boar's bone plated exterior. "Ha-ha, ho. Wasn't expecting _that_ were you?" Port asks Weiss, making her turn to slightly look at him over her shoulder.

"Hang in there Weiss!" Ruby cheers, just before the heiress uses a glyph to charge towards the Borbatusk, and attempt to stab it in the head, only for the Grimm to block her, and place her in a stalemate by catching her rapier between its tusks. When this happens, Port watches with interest.

"Hold your approach. I like it!" He exclaims. Meanwhile, I'm looking the Grimm over with thoughts running through my head.

 _Borbatusk. A Grimm that's pretty much an oversized boar with extra defense in terms of the bone plating exterior that all Grimm have, with the exception being Nevermore since it only as it on the head. Fairly fast when they charge, but if they do so, they'll be stuck running in that one direction until they can slowly turn themselves around. Tusks grow over time, curving as they age. They also grow in size, and the bone plating grows with them, new pieces being added as well. However, there's one place that bone plating never grows…_ I think to myself just before Ruby starts to cheer again. I'm internally glad she does, since it distracts me from the reason that I know this so well…

"Come on Weiss! Show him who's boss!" She encourages her partner, accidentally distracting the Schnee as Weiss turns to look at her, and in the process stops pushing against the Borbatusk, letting it fling her rapier off to the side, and then hit the heiress and send her skidding across the ground in the opposite direction.

"Ho-ho. Now what will you do without your weapon?" Port asks the heiress as she pushes herself up off the ground, and looks up just in time for her eyes to widen as the Grimm charges her. She manages to roll to the side just in time, leading to the Borbatusk charging into one of the desks, and bounce off the reinforced wood, rolling along the ground afterwards. When this happens, Ice Queen runs towards her weapon, while I lean over towards Ruby.

"I'll admit, that was one time that you shouldn't have cheered for Ice Queen." I whisper, making her hang her head.

"Sorry." She says, making me pat her head.

"It's alright, just know when to, and when to not, cheer people on just so that you won't distract them." I tell her with a small smile, and then turn around just in time to see the heiress slide and grab her rapier. At this time, Ruby takes my advice, since the Borbatusk is still attempting to push itself onto its feet.

"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath!" Ruby exclaims, only for Weiss to pusher herself off the ground and turn to glare at my little sister figure.

" _Stop_ telling me what to _do_!" She yells, making me glare at her in response as Ruby looks down with a frown on her face. However, before I can yell at the Ice Queen, I hear the Borbatusk growl, and then spin in a circle before it launches itself towards the Schnee. In response, the heiress creates one of her glyphs in its path, causing the Grimm to slam into it, and then fall onto its back. When this happens, Ice Queen jumps up onto another glyph of hers, changing it to black which I can now assume is meant for gravity, before changing it once again and kicking off it to stab the Grimm in the belly causing it to squeal in pain before it dies… Just like Ruby suggested.

"Bravo. _Bravo!_ It appears we are _indeed_ in the presence of a _true_ huntress in training." Port says as Ice Queen breaths deeply from what just happened, as the Borbatusk starts to turn into smoke and dissipate into thin air… Which makes the back of my mind wonder how it is that Port apparently has the heads of multiple Grimm that he's killed set up along the walls. "I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. Be _sure_ to cover the assigned readings. And… Stay _vigilant_! Class dismissed." He announces, and when he says this, Ice Queen goes stalking off.

"Geez, what's with her?" Jaune asks, the silent room carrying his question as Blake turns to the rest of us in confusion, while I simply glare at the heiress' retreating form.

* * *

After class, the four of us, Ice Queen not being with us, return to our bedroom(s), and when we walk in, I notice something that escaped my notice earlier when we were rushing to get to class. "Uh, girls… What's going on with the beds?" I ask them, making the others look at the beds currently piled in the middle of the room. _And the only way they're piled like that and still in perfect condition is Anime Logic…_ I think to myself… With an Anime Logic induced sweatdrop appearing on the back of my head.

"Uh… I guess we have a lot of stuff…" Yang admits as she rubs the back of her head with a sheepish smile. "I guess we could ditch some of it…" She adds, making Ruby get a light in her eyes as a smile makes its way onto her face.

"Or… We could ditch the _beds_ , and make _bunk-beds_!" She exclaims, making me smirk as I turn to the other two.

"All in favor?" I ask.

 _*Ding!*_ Blake gives a small smile as she also gives us a thumbs up.

 _*Ding!*_ Yang gives an open mouthed smile as she puts both her hands up as if she were Spider-Man with her palms facing us.

 _*Ding!*_ Ruby raises both her hands into the air with a wide smile on her face.

 _*Ding!*_ As for me, I simply smirk as my hands are put into my jacket pockets, before I turn back around to face the beds. "Alright, then just leave making the bunk-beds to me. Once I'm done, you three can decorate them however you want. _But_ , I'm gonna make sure that they're safe enough for you to sleep in." I tell them, going into my room, before coming out with a small black box, as well as a small yellow one. At the questioning looks that I'm receiving, I simply smirk, and press a button on the side of each of them.

When I do this, the black box unfolds to show that it's actually a small container for screws, while the yellow one unfolds in a way that has a drill tip come out, before the other pieces shift, making a handle, and a motor for the drill. "There. Now, I just need a few random pieces of wood to hold the beds together in the way that I'm planning…" I tell them, before the other three suddenly hold out wooden planks that are the perfect size and shape to make it seem like the beds were supposed to be attached in the way that I'm planning. This makes me stare at them for a second as I blink my eyes, before I smirk. "… Thank you Anime Law #37." I say, before grabbing the pieces of wood, and walking over to the beds.

I look at them for a few seconds, before glancing over my shoulder at the trio currently watching me. Ruby has a small smile on her face along with Yang. As for Blake…

"So what are you going to do?" She asks, making me tense up a bit as I turn a bit more to look back at the beds.

"Well…" I trail off, not really wanting to answer her question. However, Yang seems to realize, and gives a loud sigh.

"Zach!" She exclaims, making me flinch at the fact that she seemed fairly upset. "She's our teammate. You're gonna need to break out of your shell sooner or later, so you might as well do it sooner. As in _now_." She tells me, making Blake glance between the two of us in confusion, while I simply try to make myself seem smaller.

"But-" I try, only to no avail.

"No! No, "Buts"." Yang tells me, her eyes becoming red once again. However, this time, I really wish they weren't. "I'm sick and tired of not having the _real_ you around during the day, you know that Zach. So will you just hurry up and use your Semblance to make our bunk-beds?" She asks me, making me flinch once again. But, with how Yang is right now, there would be no winning against her. _Especially_ since I'm still partially secluded right now. But, she's essentially breaking that down, and I give another flinch as I turn back to look at the beds.

I place the screw box on the ground along with the drill and wood, before I hold my arms out towards the pile of beds. I give Yang one last look, only to see burning red eyes, and turn back around to face the beds with another flinch. Then, I activate my semblance. It starts out with my hands changing colors from Caucasian to red and black, before they become a mass of tendrils, which then reach out and wrap around the beds. After a second, I lift my arms, and the tendrils allow me to pick up the beds with no problem, before placing one on top of another, and then doing the same thing a moment later with the other two.

After I do this, I keep the tendrils wrapped around them, but walk closer to make sure that they're set up in a way that the "feet" of the beds won't fall off each other for now, and then let the tendrils create my hands once again. Once my hands are back to normal, I quickly get to screwing the pieces of wood around the four corners of the beds, the _bottom_ of the _top_ beds, to the _top_ of the _bottom_ beds, to make sure that each bed will stay as it is. After doing this, I close the drill and screw box back into their condensed forms, flinch, and then turn back around to face the trio.

Ruby is giving me a sympathetic look, Yang is giving me an apologetic look, while Blake… "So, why is it a bad thing that he's able to do that?" She asks, making the three of us look at her in shock. However, before the other two can say anything, I speak up.

"The fact that you don't know is better…" I say, before making my way towards my room, only to pause as I place the two boxes on one of the many shelves, and let off a defeated sigh. "But… I suppose that it will be better if you hear it from _me_ , rather than Ice Queen." I admit, turning around and walking back towards them.

"Oh yeah, why is it that you're not calling Weiss by her real name. Ever since our last class, you've been calling her "heiress" or "Ice Queen" or "Schnee". Why?" Yang asks, making me turn to her.

"Because of how she's reacting to the support that Ruby's giving her. Until she starts to actually act like her age, and not go exploding on Ruby for the smallest of things, _then_ I'll refer to her by name. And as much as I like this distraction from my Semblance, can we _not_ drag it out?" I ask her, before turning back to Blake.

"I'll… Give you the shortened version that I gave these two, since even _I'm_ not ready to go giving my full backstory. But, you might as well take a seat. It's gonna be a while anyways…" I say, walking over to the bottom bed that I've placed on the left side of the room, Ruby sitting on my left while Yang sits on my right, and Blake sits on the bottom bed across from us.

"It was a little over five years ago…"

* * *

Almost an hour later, I let out a sigh as I walk into my part of the room, closing the door behind me as I fall onto my bed on my back, and lay one of my hands over my eyes. _Each time… Each_ fucking _time I tell someone… I remember…_ I think to myself, before wincing.

 _Creatures…_

 _Blood…_

 _People…_

 _Limbs…_

 _Claws…_

 _Blood…_

 _Teeth…_

 _Grimm…_

 _Spikes…_

Blood _…_

 _Weapons…_

 _Needles…_

 _Liquid…_

BLOOD _…_

 _Tendrils…_

BLOOD _…_

 _Wounds…_

BLOOD _…_

 _Soldiers…_

DEATH _..._

 **BLOOD**

I gasp as I shoot up in my bed, sweat pouring down my face as I put my right hand over my frantically beating heart, trying to calm down… But the fact that my left arm is basically a mass of writhing tendrils doesn't help…

"No…" I trail off, clenching my teeth and groaning as the tendrils writhe a bit more, before changing back into my hand, making me gasp and take deep breaths once again. "No… No not now… Why _now_?" I ask, falling back onto my bed as I turn onto my side and close my eyes, trying to fall asleep…

I didn't get any that night.

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: Well guys, that's about it for this chapter. So, as you can see, I haven't changed that much in terms of the actual events, since like I stated in the first Author's Note, I feel like this is another important part of the plot for RWBY, and I don't want to change it too much.**

 **Now, you've also seen glimpses of Zach's past, but only words that should allow you to piece together some parts. However, I don't want to give everything that I'm planning away, which is why I didn't write in actual situations.**

 **I've _also_ made it so that Yang is more forceful in trying to get Normal!Zach around. But, like I said before, it's gonna take a while before it actually happens, and I have plans for the next chapter that will affect things even more. Especially since next chapter is going to be an Original one, though it will have a part of it that's canon. But, since I'm not reaching Jaune Arc's arc for a couple/few more chapters, you'll just have to wait and see what canon part it is…**

 **But, since there's not _that much_ to go over this chapter, I guess I should just get to replying to the reviews that I've received.**

 **GeassDragon:**

I'll agree with you there. I'm just implementing it for more comedy, though it's a true fact that it's only really laughable when it's visible. Though, I think that in Qpython's One Piece story, he does a fairly good job… Either way, thanks for the compliment, and I hope to keep you entertained through the rest of the story!

 **Piemaster981:**

Thanks, as for the Lime, well, what do you expect from Yang? As for the pairing, I'll admit, I've only really seen two, and so far they're good. Though, that's only the two that I've seen. As for the Blacklight virus… Well, you'll just have to wait. After all, I mentioned that his powers were actually his Semblance… But that's not to say I haven't put my own spin on it.

 **Anime PJ:**

It's nice to see you exited for this! As for the badass situations coming up, you can expect them soon. And Weiss, well, you saw a bit of that this chapter. And Zach's background, as you can see, I've given small clues in the chapter, but only enough to give people a bit of an idea as to what I've done…

 **DePlexx:**

Yeah, I'm really trying to stay in line with that, though with three+ fourth wall breaks being in this chapter, I might need to tone it down during my original ones… But, I hope that despite those you still like the story, and hopefully like the future ones that I post!

 **Akira Himura:**

Thanks for the compliment! As for the powers, I'm afraid that I haven't read that story, so I wouldn't know. But, you don't have to worry about not playing Prototype since the only thing that I'm really taking from it are abilities and "weapons" that I'll be going into later… At least, that's all I'm adding for now…

As for the AL, I'd probably get into a discussion over PM's, so that I can get more info about it. But, it already sounds like it would be nice!

 **Phoenix Commander:**

Thanks for the compliment! As for their lives and what-not… I'm not entirely sure myself at the moment. I don't know what Rooster Teeth is doing with RWBY at the moment, whether it's stopped because of the unfortunate passing of Monty, or if it's on a _really_ long Hiatus since they might need to find out what's happening with Ren since he was voiced by Monty. So, once I reach the end of Volume 2, and have an idea of what they're doing, then I'll probably have an idea.

 **SPARTAN-626:**

Thanks for the compliment! As for the relations to the Grimm… Well, you'll just have to see in time. As for the OC, he'll probably show up sometime during Volume 2… Not entirely sure when yet, but he'll definitely show up during that point.

 **Anyways guys, that's about it for this chapter. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next time!**

 **(Updated July 25th, 2015: Welp, another edited chapter. However, this time I've actually changed a bit more than the others, and elaborated on details more than they were written out already. I also fixed grammar mistakes that I saw, and changed details in case they conflicted a bit with the scene.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: That Time of The Month…**

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 1: Well guys, here's the first Original Chapter for this story. I'll admit it's already a lot easier than my other original chapters for my other stories, since I have a much more solid plan for this one than those ones.**

 **Now, a few things I think that I should go over before the chapter, just in case any of you are confused about these things. For Prototype, the weapon in this story, the large blade and the whip that it can turn into are James Heller's versions, since I feel like they're more like an evolved version of the kinds that Alex uses in the first game.**

 **Well, that's about it for this Author's Note, since there's not that much else that I can go over for now. So, here's the fifth chapter of Team RWBYZ, and my first original one for this story!**

* * *

 **Zach's POV:**

* * *

I lay in bed, my arm resting over my eyes once again as light comes in through the blinds over my window, before I sit up, throw my legs over the edge of the bed, push myself up, and walk over to the door that separates my room from the girl's.

 ** _~Knock-Knock~_**

"Hey, you guys decent in there?" I ask through the door, and then wait a minute for an answer. When I don't get one, I realize that they might still be asleep, and check my watch… Before slapping my palm against my forehead. "It's fucking seven, of course they're still asleep." I berate myself, before unlocking the door, and walking into the girl's room, noticing that Ruby was the only one to decorate her bed so far, and that it had a few sheets hung up by rope around it to block off the view of the inside, no doubt in case she wanted to study and didn't want to distract anyone with the light she would need. I simply shrug, and walk across the room to the doorway on the opposite side that leads into the attached bathroom.

When I walk in, I immediately walk over to the sink, and look into the mirror that's attached to the wall above it. The sight that greets me isn't a good one. Looking into the mirror, I find a teenage boy whose skin is sunken so far into his face that the edges of his bones can easily be seen. His eyes are bloodshot, and his right eyelid is constantly twitching. Holding up my hands and looking down at them, I notice that the skin has also sunken down enough for them to be nothing but a thin layer of skin over the bones there. And when I clench them into fists, I can hear my bones crackling.

Unclenching my fists, I turn my head a bit, and freeze. The girls had unpacked, just like they said, and sitting on the edge of the sink was a toothbrush. However, this was one of the kinds that had designs on it. And it has Grimm skulls all over it. "Gah!" I gasp as I stagger backwards a little, my hands going up to clench the sides of my head, before my arms suddenly become tendrils that start to writhe about randomly in the air.

 _Blood…_

 _Limbs…_

 _Creatures…_

 _Needles…_

 _Scalpels…_

 _Soldiers…_

 _Doctors…_

 _Weapons…_

"No! No-no-no! Get it under control Mercer." I growl to myself, bringing my hands down and holding them in front of my body as I glare at the tendrils. "Get this the _fuck_ under control." I growl, sweat gathering on my forehead just like last night, before I let out a groan as the tendrils change back into my arms. I give ragged sighs as I stare down at my arms, clenching and unclenching my fists to make sure that they're back to normal. After wards, I go back to the sink and splash cold water over my face. Once I finish, I shut off the water, lean against the wall next to the sink, and let myself slide down it so that I sit on the floor, with my back against the wall.

"…I need to get out of here…" I mutter to myself as I glance over at the door in the direction of the beds where the girls are sleeping, before turning and looking around the bathroom, when in actuality I'm looking in all the directions that people are no doubt sleeping. "…Before it's too late…"

* * *

 **3rd Person POV:**

* * *

Currently, Professor Ozpin is walking the halls of Beacon, his signature coffee mug in hand, with his cane in the other. As he takes a sip, he hears a voice speak up from behind him. "Professor Ozpin." He hears someone say his name, making him turn around to face them, and see Zach Mercer making his way towards him.

"Ah, Mr. Mercer. Might I ask why you're outside your dorm at this time of the morning? Classes don't start for another hour." Ozpin says, before taking another sip from his coffee.

"…Professor, I need to go into the Emerald Forest." Zach says, making Ozpin pause, before he finishes his sip of coffee, and then lowers it to his side as he looks at Zach. But this time, he actually _looks_ at the teen. He notices the bloodshot eyes he has, as well as the fact that his skin has sunken so much that the professor could easily see the boy's bones. As he does this, he sees Zach grimace, before his right hand changes into a mass of tendrils for a few seconds, making the teen groan as sweat gathers on his face, and the tendrils change back to normal. After seeing this, the professor's eyebrows raise, before he turns around.

"Of course Mr. Mercer. I will let your teachers know that you will not be attending class. Do you know how long you will be in the forest for?" Ozpin asks as he starts walking towards the airship docks, Zach not too far behind.

"At the most it should be three days, professor Ozpin." Zach replies, getting a nod from the headmaster of Beacon as he takes another sip from his coffee as they walk through the halls. "…You know, I should ask you why you're not asking me why I need to leave, but I have a feeling that you already know why." Zach says, making Ozpin look at him out of the corner of his eyes.

"Mr. Mercer, as you know I'm the headmaster at Beacon. That means that I must know all that I can about the students that enroll at the school. And I will admit, your case was an… _Interesting_ one." Ozpin tells the teen beside him, making Zach grimace.

"That's one way to put it…" He mutters. A few minutes later, the two walk out the doors and head towards one of the waiting airships, the pilot sitting in his seat with a magazine held in his hands, before he notices the headmaster approaching.

"Professor Ozpin, what can I do for you?" He asks as Ozpin takes another sip from his mug of coffee, before he gestures to Zach with his cane.

"I need you to take Mr. Mercer here to the Emerald Forest." He tells the pilot as Zach climbs into the back, and straps himself in. The pilot raises an eyebrow in confusion, but doesn't bother questioning the headmaster since he probably has a good reason.

"Alright. Where should I drop him off?" He asks.

"Right where the first years where picked up after their initiations. And once you've done so, make sure that you come back. I've given Mr. Mercer the number to call on his Scroll so that he can contact us when you should return to gather him." Ozpin says, making the pilot become even more confused, but nod to the headmaster none-the-less.

"Sure thing headmaster." The pilot says as he starts up the airship, Zach staring out the window as they take off, leaving Ozpin standing in the same spot as he takes a sip from his coffee mug once again, watching the airship as it leaves, and heads off towards the Emerald Forest. While the headmaster watches them go, inside the airship the pilot attempts to talk to Zach.

"So kid, any reason that the headmaster is sending you out into that forest alone?" He asks, making Zach turn to look at him through the doorway that separates the back of the airship from the front.

"…Let's just say that it's important that I get there… _Soon_." Zach says, looking down at his hands as they once again change colors, making him clench them to keep them the Caucasian skin color that they normally are.

"Alright then kid, just wish I knew a bit more." The pilot says as he closes in on their destination. "Well, here you go kid. The Emerald Forest. Just hope you don't die out there." The pilot says as he lands the airship, making Zach unbuckle and climb out onto the ground.

"I'm not the one who's gonna be dying today…" Is all Zach says as he makes his way towards the cliff and stares down at the ruins below, making the pilot shrug.

"Whatever kid, just give me a call whenever you're gonna be picked up. I'll be waiting back at Beacon to hear from you." The pilot says, before the airship rises into the air, and then flies back towards the Academy. Zach looks over his shoulder and watches it fly away, before turning back to the ruins that he'd faced the Nevermore on just a few days prior. He lets off a sigh, before he jumps off the cliff. When he lands, it's in the exact same crater that he created while fighting the large Grimm, making it a bit deeper, before he takes off across the ruins, jumping when he reaches the large gap in the bridge that was caused by the Deathstalker… And easily clearing it as he rolls with the jump, and continues into the forest.

 _Damn it… Gotta hold it together Mercer. Just make it further into the forest… Don't lose yourself now._ He thinks to himself as he groans, his arms changing into tendrils, then back to his arms, before switching between the two once again, ending with his arms in place, and making Zach pant as he stops and leans against a tree. _Just get further Zach… Far away from everyone._ He thinks, before he swallows a lump in his throat, and then continues running through the forest.

* * *

 **Location:** Beacon

 **Time:** 1:30 PM

* * *

Yang groans as she rests her head on the lunch table in front of her, Ruby sitting at her side while Blake and Weiss sit across from them, the former reading from one of her many books, while the latter is simply looking at Yang in confusion. "Why are you so depressed?" The heiress asks Yang, only to get a moan in response, making Ruby pat her sister's shoulder, and then turn to face her partner.

"She's upset because Zach isn't here." She explains, making Yang finally look up from the table and whine.

"And since he's just up and gone, that means he won't be back for a few days…" She complains, before slamming her head on the table again, making the heiress and Blake raise their eyebrows in confusion as they turn to the leader of the team, making her chuckle nervously.

"Uh… Yeah, Zach kinda… Well, near the end of each month he kinda just leaves, and doesn't tell us where he's going." She explains, making Blake keep her eyebrow raised, while Weiss simply scoffs as she turns away.

"Just another reason to dislike that man." She says, making the others look at her as Yang raises her head from the table to give the Schnee a slight glare.

"Oh come on Weiss, you can't honestly think-" However, she's cut off by the girl in question.

"Think what? The _truth_? I mean, you've _heard_ about him, right? He's nothing but a no-good man who was responsible for-" However, this time she's the one who's cut off.

"No, Weiss. Zach didn't do that, well he didn't really, not on purpose at least. You see, it's actually a really complicated story and a lot of the stuff was actually made up…" Ruby says, losing her confidence as she continues before she finally just trails off. However, after she says this, Yang gets up, and leaves the table. "Yang! Where are you going?" Ruby asks her half-sister, making Yang look over her shoulder.

"I'm gonna head off to class. I don't want to be around when rumors about my friend are thrown around." She says, before turning around and making her way out of the cafeteria, and heading through the halls towards the next class that Team RWBYZ had together, except for the Z. As she walks, she thinks about their missing letter. _Why is it always near the end of the month? I mean, you're not a girl Zach, you don't have what we do._ She thinks, before shivering a bit at that thought, and shaking her head to get rid of it. _So why the hell do you suddenly disappear?_ She wonders, before she thinks about something else.

 _As for Weiss, why is it that she just believes all those rumors that are thrown around about you without question?_ Yang thinks as she clenches her hands into fists, stomping a bit as she continues walking through the halls to her class. _They're not true… I_ know _they aren't. After all, you've proven that to me on more than one occasion…_ Yang thinks to herself, remembering one time in particular that happened only a few days ago as she arrives at her classroom, and sits at a desk as she waits for lunch to end, and for the others to show up.

 ** _*Flashback*_**

Yang is driving through the streets on her motorcycle Bumblebee, with Zach sitting behind her. "You know Yang, I feel like there's more than one reason that you wanted us to only take your bike." He says into her ear as they continue driving, Yang getting a sly smirk on her face when he says this as she takes another turn, making sure to slide herself back on the seat as she makes the turn so that her ass grinds against his groin a bit.

"Now why would I do that Zach?" She asks over her shoulder, making Zach smirk at her in response, hugging her waist a bit tighter as Yang takes yet another turn.

"I can think of many reasons, Ms. Xiao Long." He whispers, making her shiver a bit since she's wearing her Huntress outfit, so her waist is bare for him to touch. She whines quietly to herself when he does this, before she notices a certain building, and slows the bike down.

"Well, you'll just have to find out which reason it was later Zach. We're here." She tells him as the motorcycle comes to a complete stop, and Yang gets off. Although, not without making sure to run her hand over Zach's covered chest as she does so, making him smirk as he shakes his head and dismounts the bike with her. The two take off their helmets, Yang's being yellow with a black trim, while Zach's is black with a red trim.

"Well once we're done here, I'll make sure to do just that." He whispers into her ear in a deep voice as they walk towards the building, making her bite her lip as she keeps herself from pushing him to the ground, straddling him, and shoving her tongue into his mouth since they're in public at the moment, even though no one is around. Hell, that's the only reason Zach's acting like he is.

As they get closer to the building, they're each able to hear music pounding inside, before the doors open to show a large open space with a dance floor in the middle, and flashing lights all around as a DJ can be seen across the room. The two can see dozens of people on dancing, and share a look before they opt to take the long route around to the bar.

Along the way, the two notice the man that they're looking for, who's talking to a certain Roman Torchwick in front of their destination. As they get closer, Torchwick leaves, and the man waves away the two girls that were standing beside him, while Zach takes a seat and Yang stands between him and the man. Yang is the first to speak, but not to the man. Instead, she starts talking to the bartender. "Strawberry sunrise. No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas." She adds, making the man beside her turn to look at her in slight confusion.

"Sprite. Bottled." Zach tells the bartender as the man beside Yang starts talking to her, and the bartender starts to make Yang's drink, and grab Zach's.

"Aren't you a little _young_ to be in this club blondie?" He asks, turning to face her as Yang does the same with a chuckle.

"Aren't you a little _old_ to have a name like _Junior_?" She asks him, making him move a bit when she mentions his name, Zach giving the required lien to the bartender when he gives the teen his and Yang's drinks.

"So you know who _I_ am. You got a name, _sweetheart_?" Junior asks, making Zach stiffen a bit, but then relax and give a small smirk when he realizes where this is going to end up as Yang chuckles yet again.

"Yes Junior, I've got several. But instead of sweetheart… You can just call me _sir_." She says as she trails her finger along his chest, down his abs… And then tightly grabs his balls when she says the last word, making the man let off a pained squeak, and making Zach wince off to the side. Hey, he might know what they're here for, and know it's important to Yang, but even he wouldn't be harsh enough to do that to a guy…

Then again, it's kind of an unspoken rule amongst _guys_ that you don't go for any type of nut shots except in _really_ desperate situations. "People say you know everything." She continues as Junior grunts in pain, before she shows him a picture on her Scroll. "Tell me where I can find her, and I'll let you go." She tells him, making Junior attempt to speak through the pain.

"I've never seen her before, I swear." Junior tells her, making Yang glare at him.

"Excuse me?" She asks in anger, gripping tighter, and making Zach subtly cross his legs under the counter.

"I swear, sir." He tells her, before a few of the "guards" for the place show up and glare at the girl currently holding their boss by the balls.

"Hm, looks like we've got an audience. This must be _kind of_ embarrassing for you, huh?" She asks him with a knowing smirk as he continues to grunt in pain. "Awkward." She continues in a sing-song voice.

"Listen, blondie, sir. If you want to make it out of this club _alive_ , I suggest you let me go. _Now._ " Junior grunts through the pain, making Yang let go of him and allowing him to let off a breath as he's finally able to breathe right while Zach uncrosses his legs and turns around in his chair as he tips his soda and takes a sip from it, almost as if it were a bottle of beer. "You'll pay for that." Junior says with an angered grunt as he walks away from the two, bringing out red tinted glasses identical to the ones his "guards" have on at the moment.

"Oh Junior, I was just playing with you. Don't be so sensitive." Yang says as she walks with him, the men with axes following them as they keep an eye on Yang. "Come _on_ , let's kiss and make up, okay?" She asks, and Zach smirks into his drink when he realizes where this is going. And because of this, he moves Yang's drink slightly, before reaching over, and slamming the bartender's head against the counter, knocking him out while he watches Junior lean forwards and get closer to Yang's lips… Just before she punches him in the face and sends him flying across the room into one of the glass pillars, making all the dancers run, while the henchmen start to converge on Yang.

As they do this, the blonde girl readies **Ember Celica** , bringing it out of its condensed form, and then backflips into the air, just as the song in the background slows down, before it speeds back up just as she comes down and sends a shockwave through the floor, sending all the men onto their backs. Meanwhile, Zach simply continues to drink from his Sprite, making Yang look over at him. "Enjoying the show Zach?" She asks with a wink, making him smirk as he gives her small wave, just before she spins and sends a shotgun enhanced punch to the back of one of the men who were charging her.

After she does this, the rest of the men start to converge on her, wielding their axes once again as they try to get close enough to her to chop her in two. However, each time they get close to her, Yang simply sends them flying with a punch or a kick, sometimes enhancing her attacks with **Ember Celica's** shotgun blasts, or using said blasts to propel herself towards a different man, and then attack him. However, new men join the fight, this time wielding swords instead of axes. It didn't do them much good though, since Yang easily parried their blows, and then sent her own attacks which sent most of them flying through the air.

After a few more seconds, all the men on the dance floor are knocked out, and the DJ pulls out an AK-47, and starts to fire at Yang. It doesn't do him much good however, since she just dodges all the bullets, and then uses **Ember Celica** to launch herself up into the air, and vault over the DJ equipment, using It to send a kick to the man's face, before slamming his head into the equipment, causing the music to cut off, and then throw him onto the dance floor. When she does this, the two girls that were with Junior before stare up at the blonde with blank looks on their faces.

"Melanie who _is_ this girl?" The one in red asks the girl in white, the two of them appearing identical, meaning that they're most likely twins.

"I don't know Milsha, but we should teach her a _lesson_." The white girl replies, making Yang give a confident smirk as she ejects the rounds in **Ember Celica** onto the floor, and then takes out new ones and reloads the weapon. When she does this, Zach leaps up onto the DJ stand next to her, and sends her a smirk.

"Now Yang, you can't expect me to let you have _all_ the fun, can you?" He asks her, making her smirk in response, before she turns back to the girls on the ground, and then jumps over the DJ equipment as she sends shotgun blasts towards the two. In response, the twins backflip out of the way, while Zach activates **Prototype** , and changes it into its whip form, which he uses to swing from the DJ stand, and land next to Yang while transforming his weapon into its firearm form, and then sends a stream of bullets towards the girls, who strafe off to opposite sides to dodge the shots.

However, Zach and Yang are then forced to dodge themselves when the twins suddenly sprint towards them, the one in red attempting to slash at the two of them with the clawed weapon attached to her wrist, while the one in white attempts to kick the two. However, when she does this, Zach notices a glint of light off the heels of her shoes, meaning that they're sharpened into weapons themselves. When this happens, him and Yang end up back to back, before they each dive to different sides as the twins try to attack them again. When Zach looks up, it's just in time to see Yang get pushed back by an attack from the white one, while he's forced to quickly change **Prototype** into its blade form to parry a strike attempted by the one in red.

A second later, Yang fires **Ember Celica** , and the round goes past the one in white, and shatters one of the other glass pillars, which is identical to the one she sent Junior through earlier. When this happens, the twins switch opponents, and the one in red attempts to slash at Yang, while the one in white attempts to kick Zach. However, the teenage boy quickly changes **Prototype** into its whip form, and wraps it around the girl's leg, and then sends her flying into her sister. When this happens, the two go sliding across the floor, before they get up and look at the two older teens, since the twins look to be about 15. What they see is Yang racking her shotgun-gauntlets again, while Zach makes **Prototype** slowly change into its bladed form for intimidation purposes.

Unfortunately, it doesn't really work since the twins simply share a glance, and then charge the older teens. When they do this, they do so in a way that the red one is behind the white one, making it so that when the one in white attacks, and Zach deflects it, the one in red vaults over her twin and sends a slash at the older teen, making him block it and slide back slightly, allowing the twins to focus on Yang for a few seconds. However, they underestimate the time it takes for Zach to recover, and a couple seconds later, the one in red is caught in the whip form of **Prototype** , before she's flung away, and through another glass pillar in the room, knocking her out when she lands.

After this happens, Zach sprints over towards Yang, who then spins to the side when the girl in white attempts to attack her, only to miss as Zach charges her, gives her a solid punch to the gut, and then changes **Prototype** into its firearm form, presses it against her stomach, and fires. This causes her to fly to the other side of the room, on the same side as her sister but much further to the right, just before the lights in the club start to go out, and the two look around in slight confusion. However, they notice one light come on, and see Junior standing under it with his own weapon over his shoulder. That weapon being a large, red and grey rocket launcher.

"You two are gonna pay for this." He says as Yang readies **Ember Celica** , while Zach simply gives a mocking smirk.

"Sorry buddy, kinda payed the rest of my lien to your bartender over there for our drinks. So it looks like you're shit out of luck." He says as **Prototype** once again changes into its whip form. In response, Junior glares at him, before aiming his rocket launcher at the two of them, and then fires. When he does this, multiple rockets are shot out all at once in a pincer shot, making Yang backflip, while Zach uses **Prototype** to pull himself up towards the ceiling, where he crouches on one of the rafters. When Junior fires again, the two teens each use their weapon's firearm forms to blow up the rockets in mid-air, making Junior change his rocket launcher into its melee form, which is revealed to be a giant club.

He jumps through the cloud of smoke that the blown up rockets had created, and then sends Yang flying across the dancefloor, making Zach descend from the rafters, and land an attack on the man's back with **Prototype** in its blade form and a glare on his face. However, as Junior gets up, he notices Zach look past him with a smirk, making the man turn to see Yang giving an identical smirk as she slams her fists together.

"You're in trouble now you bastard. Your weapon can't do shit to Yang with what her Semblance is. In other words, you're screwed." Zach says as he leaps back while Yang runs forwards, and sends multiple punches and jabs to the man's side before he tries to block her attack with his weapon, only for her punch to break through it as she punches his chest, sending him to the other side of the room.

When he stands up, Junior reveals that he's holding onto the handle of his weapon, while in his other hand… Are a few strands of Yang's hair. When Zach sees this, he pales, and quickly backs up as **Prototype** returns under his clothes. "Junior, I'd like to apologize to you right now, because what's about to happen to you I don't wish on _anyone_." Zach says, making Junior look at him in confusion, before he sees flames suddenly erupt from Yang, more erupting around the club at the same time, as she glares at him with red eyes, and then charges at him with an enraged yell, making him look at her in shock and fear as he realizes what Zach meant, before she sends a shotgun enhanced punch to his face, and sends him flying out of one of the windows onto the street outside.

After she does this, she jumps out of the window after him, using **Ember Celica** to help her, and leaving Zach to sigh in the middle of the room, before he walks over to the bar, grabs his soda and Yang's drink, and then uses his Semblance to leap out of the window after her, landing just as the blonde starts speaking to her younger sister. "Oh, hey sis." Yang says as her red eyes change back to violet and she smiles at Ruby.

"Zach too? What are you guys doing here?" She asks as she places her hands on her hips, making Zach chuckle sheepishly as he hides Yang's drink behind his back, and the blonde in question sighs.

"It's a long story…" She says to her sister, which then leads to the two of them recounting what happened in the club… Minus Yang getting her drink.

 ** _*Flashback End*_**

When Yang eventually returns to the present, it's just in time for her to see the other three girls to slide into their seats next to her. Once they do this, the bell rings and class starts. This makes most of the kids silently groan as Mr. Oobleck starts class, almost everyone present hating history. However, Yang has a small smile on her face as she continues to remember how Zach helped her attempts to find her birth mother more times in the past, before it changes to a frown as she joins the rest of the kids in their depression, only for a different reason.

 _Where are you Zach…? And why do you never tell me what you do when you're gone?_ She wonders silently.

* * *

 **Location:** Emerald Forest

 **Time:** 2:00 PM

* * *

Meanwhile, during the time that Yang is having her history class, things have changed drastically in the Emerald Forest. Most of the trees are covered in thin, red and black tendrils, while there are the occasional cluster of black spikes that jut out of the ground. As a Beowolf walks through the forest and reaches a clearing, it suddenly stops to sniff the air, and turn to look to its right. As it stares, the only things that it can see are shadows created by the leaves overhead blocking out the sunlight. As it continues to stare into the shadows, the bushes that are in front of the shadows suddenly rustle a bit, and the Beowolf moves towards them to investigate.

Suddenly, a mass of thick, black and red tendrils bursts out of the bushes, ensnaring the Grimm. It attempts to let off a panicked cry… Only for the tendrils to completely wrap around it, causing the Grimm itself merges with the tendrils. Then, the tendrils move back through the bushes, leaving the clearing as it was, with no signs of struggle as a deep moan echoes through the otherwise silent forest…

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: Well guys, this is my shortest chapter in this story yet. Although, with what I have planned for the next one, or possibly two, they're all gonna be kinda short since I'm not very good at writing out Original Chapters/Arcs since as you can see, most of this chapter was spent going over Yang's trailer from Rooster Teeth, only I added Zach.**

 **However, I think that the fact that I came out with two chapters in one day makes up for that fact, especially since I only started this chapter right after I posted the last one. Meaning that I wrote this in about eight hours! What do you guys think? Does that make up for the shortness of the chapter? But, shortness aside, let's get to what actually _happened_ in the chapter!**

 **So, some questionable things are happening to Zach, and Ozpin knows just what it is. Not only that, but Ozpin knows _exactly_ what happened during Zach's past. The question that I'm sure you guys are asking, is _what_ happened. However, this is only the beginning, and I'm not gonna completely give it away! Especially since there are plenty more original arcs to come, and the fact that Volume one takes place over a space of a few _months_.**

 **As for the last scene, I'll be getting more into that during the next chapter, which I should hopefully be able to work on sometime later tomorrow, since I'm going to a family event right after I wake up, and whenever I go over to their house, it's almost like my family is at the Lotus Hotel. We spend _hours_ there, when it only feels like we've been there for _one_ hour.**

 **But, that's about it for this chapter, so I'll get to the actual replies to the few reviews I've received so far!**

 **Commander Phoenix (Reply to his PM):**

Well that's cool. It's nice to know that Monty's work will be continued and live on. As for who will voice Ren, I really don't know. It'll be a bit difficult since they'll have to find someone who sounds similar or identical to Monty… Unless they go back and completely re-read Ren's lines with a different actor… But anyways, yeah, I would probably keep writing even if they didn't come out with a Volume 3, though it would probably be difficult for me, since I've already mentioned how hard writing Original Chapters is for me…

 **GeassDragon:**

Nice to know that you liked it. As for the next chapter, well, here it is!

 **Anime PJ:**

Yeah, I think the only other time that I've (attempted) to write with a dark theme is in my Dead Space story… As for liking dark themes, we all have our genres like that. (Such as the fact that for some reason, I like angst stories that guilt trip some of the characters… I might need help in that regard…)

But for you being the only one to have not read the series, I'd say that you're not. However, you're probably one of the only few that I know that hasn't. But, no worries. You don't need to read the books to understand what happens, even though I will be referencing them during this story during times that he reads them. (Though, like your friends, I'm gonna say that you should read them. Cause they're really good. That, and there's a sequel book series which continues the adventures of the demigods.)

As for Volume 3 coming out eventually, thanks to yours and Commander Phoenix's PM/Reviews, I've found out about that fact. So thank you! As for when it starts, I can't wait, but that unfortunately means that I will most likely end up having to come back to this and edit the shit out of it depending on what happens during that Volume, and the ones that follow it…

 **DePlexx:**

Well, that's good to know at least! I'm glad you like Yang how she is, since I have a feeling that's the kind of personality they're trying to give her in the series. I hope you like the story so far, and continue to enjoy it as I continue to update it!

 **SPARTAN-626:**

Thanks! As for the backstory, you can see that I'm starting to flesh it out a bit more during this chapter, as well as the next. It's gonna be a while before you get a _full_ backstory for Zach, but it'll come. Just wait.

As for your character, I think that I _should_ be able to write him in fairly well, especially with all the info you've given on your Deviant Art account. But, thanks for the extra help should I need it!

 **ThunderStruck60:**

Thanks! I'll make sure to go fix that. But, other than that, I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and if so, continue to enjoy it as I upload new chapters!

 **Well guys, that's about it for this short chapter. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next time!**

 **(P.s. This was actually done eight hours after I posted the last one, just like I said. However, my Wi-Fi decided to be a dick after I finished going over it a second time to check for mistakes and edit it a bit, and then I ended up having to go to the family reunion that I mentioned, so I wasn't able to upload it until now. Sorry about that…)**

 **(Updated July 25th, 2015: Welp, not much changed here except for grammar mistakes, and elaborating on details, or changing them slightly to make more sense. Other than that though, everything was basically kept the same.)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Secrets Revealed, And A Trip Into The Forest…**

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 1: Well guys, here's the second original chapter for this story. Now, as you saw last chapter, some things are going on with Zach, and he doesn't really want to get Yang, Ruby or really anyone else besides Ozpin involved. Hell, he's only really going to Ozpin for help in getting away from everyone. The only question is, what is it that's happening to him? Well, this chapter should hopefully go over some of that, and answer some questions that some of you may have.**

 **Now, I'll admit that there were quite a few good guesses for what was going on with Zach in the reviews from last chapter, but unfortunately none of them were right. At least as far as I could tell when reading them. However, I have to say that a couple of you got _extremely_ close. But, what's happening to him will be revealed during this chapter, and I might end up going back to canon after this, since I have more plans for original chapters, but for the main idea I have in mind, I'm probably gonna need a whole separate _story_ that will take place between the stories that go over the Volumes. So, until Volume 3 comes out, you can expect there to be three stories. Two that go over the events of canon with added original chapters, while the other one will go over an entire "Volume" of my own that will answer everyone's questions about Zach's backstory itself. Although after reading this chapter, it should become fairly obvious to most of you… In a way that is…**

 **Another thing before I start the actual chapter. There's a person on YouTube who's username is literally Mark. I'd suggest searching him up, and watching his "Silver" video, which is basically a fan made trailer for his own original RWBY character. There's also his "Charcoal" one, but I feel like his Silver one shows just how far he's come, since he posted it around six months after the Charcoal one. He's done a _great_ job, and I think I've re-watched it around 6 times now because of how good it is.**

 **Okay, one last thing to tell you guys. From this chapter onwards, I'm probably gonna be putting in a few references to other things in the media. So, at the bottom of each chapter, I'll explain the references that I wrote in, just in case none of you recognize them.**

 **But, that's about it for this Author's Note. So now, I'll let you guys get to actually reading it. I hope you enjoy it as much as the other ones!**

* * *

 **3rd Person POV:**

* * *

 **Location:** Emerald Forest

 **Time:** 3:00 PM

* * *

Five days after Zach left Beacon, the Emerald forest isn't very _emerald_ anymore. Almost all the trees are covered by the black and red tendrils, and more black spikes can be seen jutting out of the ground, some of which have Grimm impaled on them as the creatures slowly dissipate into the air, revealing that they were just recently killed.

One Borbatusk sniffs around an area that's surprisingly clear and still resembles the Emerald forest from almost a week ago, only to stop a moment later as it stiffens, and attempts to turn around. However, it's a lost cause as the only thing the Grimm is able to see is a flash of sunlight off a set of claws, before the sound of tearing flesh can be heard. As the lifeless body of the Grimm falls to the ground, a howl can be heard through the forest.

All of this was caught on one of the few remaining cameras in the forest that hadn't been covered by the tendrils, and Ozpin watches the events on his Scroll while he stands on Beacon Cliff and takes another sip from his mug of coffee. Meanwhile, Glynda stands by his side, looking at the events on her own Scroll, and a worried frown on her face. "Professor Ozpin…" She starts, but the headmaster of Beacon simply continues to look at his Scroll, and watch as a shadowed figure crouches over the killed Borbatusk, appearing as if it was sniffing the corpse, before it turns around and makes its way into the surrounding forest. "Professor Ozpin are you listening to me?" Glynda asks him with a scowl. This time, Ozpin turns around to look at her.

"I'm listening Glynda." He replies, before taking another sip from his mug of coffee. This just makes the scowl on the woman in front of him deepen as she glares at him.

"Then what are we going to do? Mr. Mercer has obviously lost control. And if this continues at the same rate it's been going…" She trails off, and Ozpin turns to look at the forest below them, his face masking any emotions that he may have, but his eyes betraying the worry that he has.

"Then we may have an identical situation to what happened before, I realize this Glynda." Ozpin tells her, making the woman close down her Scroll and turn to face him as she continues to give him a stern glare.

"Then I ask again professor Ozpin, what are we going to do about it?" She asks, watching as he continues to stare out across the forest with his coffee mug in hand, before he looks back down at his Scroll.

"We will send in the only people that have a hope at stopping this." Ozpin replies, making the eyes of the woman beside him widen as she steps towards him.

"You can't possibly be thinking that. You realize the situation that you will be placing them in, don't you?" She says, making the man sigh as he turns to face her.

"Glynda, what other choice do we have? It's either we send them in… Or we will be forced to contact _him_. And if he's be contacted… You realize how he would take care of this, do you not?" Ozpin asks Glynda, making the woman sigh as she turns around and starts to make her way towards Beacon.

"I realize this professor Ozpin… I just hope that this won't turn out like Sentinel…" She says as she starts walking along the path leading to the academy, Ozpin sighing on the cliff behind her.

"That is something we can both agree on Glynda…" He says to no one as the Huntress had already walked away, before he looks down at his Scroll once again, watching as black and red tendrils cover the camera he was just looking through, and block his view of that part of the forest as another moan echoes across the almost lifeless area.

* * *

Around an hour later, Ozpin can be seen sitting at his desk in his office, Goodwitch standing by his side with her Scroll in hand, looking over the events of the Emerald forest through the few cameras that are still active. As the headmaster takes another sip from his mug of coffee, the terminal on his desk activates, showing that someone wants to enter the room. "Come in." Ozpin says, tapping the terminal to unlock his door, and revealing the RWBY of Team RWBYZ, all of them dressed in their school clothes. "Ms. Rose, Ms. Schnee, Ms. Belladonna, Ms. Xiao Long. Thank you for coming here on such short notice." Ozpin says as the four girls walk into the room and sit down in the chairs on the other side of the headmaster's desk.

"It was no problem professor Ozpin." Ruby replies with a small smile, although it disappears when she sees the scowl that Goodwitch has while looking over her Scroll. The other three girls notice this as well.

"So… Is something wrong?" Yang asks nervously, not liking how the entire team, sans Zach, had been called up to the headmaster's office. In response, Ozpin takes another sip of coffee, before lowering it to look at the four girls.

"I'm afraid so girls. You see, Mr. Mercer came to me five days ago, asking if he could have a leave of Beacon to go into the Emerald forest." He tells them, surprising the four.

"Why would he do that?" Blake asks, making Ozpin sigh as he looks at his terminal.

"I'm sure you've all heard of Mr. Mercer's past." He says, making Yang, Ruby and Blake stiffen slightly, while Weiss scowls, before speaking up.

"Of course we have. That man is the reason that Sentinel-" However, Ozpin starts speaking again, stopping her from saying anything else.

"Yes, we are all aware of this Ms. Schnee. However it was not entirely Mr. Mercer's doing. But, that is not why I have called you here." He says, looking over at Goodwitch, who taps her Scroll a few times, making a video feed show up on Ozpin's terminal, only enlarged and facing the girls so that it didn't look like a mirror image to them. As the four watch the screen, they see the same thing that professor Ozpin saw earlier. That being the Borbatusk that walks into view of the camera, and starts sniffing around the area. All four raise their eyebrows in confusion, and turn to look at the headmaster. "Keep watching girls." He tells them, making them turn back to the screen.

Suddenly, the girls see the same shadowed figure that the two adults had seen around an hour ago as it suddenly pounces on the Grimm, the sound of flesh being torn apart coming from the terminal as the four girls jump slightly in their seats, and then stare at the screen with wide eyes as the shadowed figure sniffs the dissipating body, before turning around and going back into the trees, which the four Huntresses in training only now notice have familiar black and red tendrils covering them. "As you can see, it would appear that Mr. Mercer has lost control." Ozpin tells the girls, making them all look at him in confusion.

"What do you mean, "Lost control"?" Yang asks, making the two adults look at one another in surprise, before they look back at the girls.

"You mean he hasn't told you?" Ozpin asks, confusion and surprise clear on his face. Which, seeing as he knew practically everything about everybody, was surprising in itself. At his question Yang lets off a frustrated sigh.

"No, all me and Ruby know is that around the end of every month, he disappears without telling anybody anything. And then when he comes back, he's all protective about it." She says, making Goodwitch raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"But I would have thought that one of you two would be able to get it out of him Ms. Xiao Long, Ms. Rose." She says, making the two laugh nervously.

"Well… He _kinda_ promises to help me with **Crescent Rose** and come up with ways on how to improve it if I don't ask about it…" She says with a sheepish smile, making the Huntress turn to Yang, who gives a sheepish laugh of her own.

"Well… He promises to spend more time with me…" She tells them, making Goodwitch raise her eyebrow in confusion once again.

"But you and Ms. Rose are the only ones that he seems… _Comfortable_ around." She says in the nicest way that she can, making Yang rub the back of her neck.

"Yeah… That's true… Although, when he promises to spend more time with me… He kinda means… Well, alone." She says, looking away from the two adults, making Goodwitch's eyes widen when she realizes what Yang is implying, while Ozpin simply raises one eyebrow while giving a small, amused smirk when he reaches the same conclusion. **(And no, I don't mean sex for you perverts who are reading this right now. I mean make-out sessions like the one that I wrote two chapters ago.)**

"Well, that aside Ms. Xiao Long, I suppose that it's time for you to know _why_ it is that he disappears every month, and why it is that he has the need to… _Convince_ you, not to ask." Ozpin says with slight humor in his voice, making Yang give another sheepish chuckle, before she realizes what he said.

"Wait… You _know_?" She asks, making Ozpin nod as he once again becomes serious, and types a few commands into his console, causing the screen to be filled with notes. However, Ozpin narrows the screen onto one in particular before any of the girls can read anything else. What they read, shocks them to the core.

 _It should be noted that near the end of each month, Zach Mercer will need to be removed from Beacon, and deposited in an area that is clear of all living creatures, but contains a high population of Grimm. **(Note: I've been reading stories where they say how every other living thing on Remnant was killed besides Humans, but with the fact that in Yang's trailer, there was a regular bird, I'm gonna go ahead and say that some living things besides humans managed to survive. Hell, we can even refer to**_ **Zwei _, and the fact that in the "World of Remnant: Grimm" it shows a wolf, and talks about other wildlife!)_**

 _The reasons behind this are in part due to Mr. Mercer's "Semblance" which will require him to consume the entire Grimm population in the area, so that he may continue to live. After this time, which can take up to three days, Mr. Mercer will be allowed back to Beacon to continue his studies to become a Huntsman, until around the same time the next month where the steps previously mentioned will have to be taken once again._

 _Should Mr. Mercer not be removed from Beacon during the required time, then it is noted that-_

However, before the girls can finish reading the note, Ozpin shuts it down, almost as if he knew where they were. "After reading this, and after seeing the footage from the cameras, I'm sure you can see what has happened in the Emerald forest." Ozpin says, making the girls think about it, before looking at him with understanding, shock, and slight horror.

"His Semblance…" Ruby starts, only for Yang to finish.

"He can't control it right now." The blonde Huntress in training says, getting a nod from Ozpin as he takes a sip from his coffee mug.

"I'm afraid so. And if this is to continue… I'm afraid that we may have another Sentinel on our hands." He says, making all four of the girls pale at the thought.

"No…" Yang says, not believing that the teen that she cares about deeply might actually…

"Which is why, we're sending you four in." Ozpin continues before she can finish her thought, but succeeding in getting a different reaction from them.

"What?!" All four scream in shock, making the headmaster place his mug of coffee on his desk as he places his elbows on it, and lean forwards slightly to stare them in the eyes.

"It is as I said. If this continues, then we will have no other choice… However, if this can be stopped before that point, then we will have no reason to worry. That is why I am asking you four, Mr. Mercer's teammates and friends, to go into the Emerald forest, and find a way to stop this from spreading." Ozpin says, before sighing. "I do not like the idea of sending four Huntresses in training to do this… But I feel that you two," He says, looking at Yang and Ruby. "Are the only ones who may be able to get through to him at this point in time." He admits. The room is silent for a few moments, before the two half-sisters stand up.

"We'll do it." They say with conviction, the seriousness in Ruby's face surprising the other two girls on the team, since they'd viewed her as the childish, not necessarily in a bad way, leader of the group. But this… This was a side that they hadn't seen of her. When the two respond, Ozpin gives a small smile, before turning to Goodwitch.

"Glynda, prepare an airship for them. And make sure to give explicit instructions to the pilot to drop them off in the same place that Mr. Mercer was dropped off five days ago." He says, making the woman nod, though the scowl on her face tells everyone present that she still doesn't like this. As she types the instructions into her Scroll, Ozpin turns back to the four girls. "I wish you the best of luck out there." He says, getting serious nods from Yang and Ruby, while Blake gives her own nod as she thinks about the teen that she'd only gotten to know over the course of two days before he left Beacon for the Emerald forest. Meanwhile, Weiss is looking off to the side, a small frown on her face at what's currently happening, as memories of the teen they're being sent to get go through her mind.

All of them about the "information" she'd learned about Sentinel, and what the teen they're about to search for did to the settlement that at one point in time was quickly on its way to becoming a fifth kingdom in Remnant…

* * *

"Well, this is where I'm supposed to drop you guys off. Hope you find that friend of yours." The pilot says to RWBY as they get off the airship and turn around to face the man, who was ironically the one to bring Zach to the forest five days prior. "I warned the kid about going in there… I just hope nothing happened to him. Anyways, Good luck!" He exclaims, before the airship lifts off, and the pilot flies back in the direction of Beacon.

The four girls stand where they are as they watch the airship leave, all of them in their huntress outfits, before Ruby turns to face the other three. "Alright guys. Our mission is to find Zach, and get him out of here." Ruby says, making Yang and Blake nod, while Weiss simply huffs as she crosses her arms and looks out over the forest.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find him." Yang says, getting nods of agreement as the four walk over to the cliff, and look down at the ruins below. "Now, we just need to find out how to get down." She continues, making the others think about it, before Ruby gets a smile on her face.

"I know!" She exclaims, pulling out **Crescent Rose** and changing it into its scythe form, before she jumps off the cliff.

"Ruby!" Yang yells, the other two looking down at the younger girl as she continues to fall towards the ruins below, before she stabs the blade her sniper-scythe into the cliff face, and slows her descent before she reaches the ledge that the Nevermore stood on a few days beforehand.

"I'm okay!" She yells as she pulls **Crescent Rose** out of the rock, and places it on her back, making the other three sigh in relief. Then, Yang smiles as she steps back, and runs off the cliff, laughing as she falls towards the ground before she readies **Ember Celica** , and then fires towards the ground below to slow her descent, landing in the same crater that Zach had five days beforehand, though even with the added shots from her weapon, she doesn't manage to deepen the crater any more than it already is. The next one to come down is Blake, who does so in a similar way to Ruby, stabbing **Gambol Shroud** into the rock to slow her descent as she lands next to the 15 year old, before Weiss uses her glyphs as platforms to leap down the cliff safely.

When everyone is standing on the ruins, Yang looks over her shoulder at them nervously. "Uh, guys. We might want to hurry." She tells them, making the three others raise their eyebrows in confusion, before they walk over to stand next to her, and see the same sight that she did.

"By Monty…" Blake says in shock, looking at the tendril-covered ruins that were in front of them. Said tendrils stretching across the gap in the bridge that was created during the fight with the Deathstalker, and creating a new "path" as they continue to grow towards the cliff, and by extension, the rest of Vale.

"We need to get to Zach… _Now_." Yang says, walking towards the bridge, only for Weiss to speak up.

"Are you insane? There's no way we'll be able to walk across that! And why would you _want_ to?!" She exclaims, making the blonde turn her head to look at the heiress over her shoulder.

"Because it's the fastest way, and I don't see any other route that we can take." She says, before she continues to walk forwards, and then steps onto the tendrils. When she does this, the others tense slightly, not entirely sure what to expect. However, as Yang continues forwards, nothing happens, and the three let off relieved breaths, before they share looks, and then follow the Y of their team across the newly made bridge.

After crossing the bridge, and continuing through the tendril covered ruins, the four eventually reach the forest itself, which appears to be completely covered in the familiar black and red tendrils. When they see it, Ruby turns to face her team, the seriousness that she had in Ozpin's office returning. "Alright guys. We're gonna go in there, and we're gonna find our friend. We're probably going to meet enemies along the way as well, and from the looks of things, they're gonna be a lot tougher than the Grimm." She says, before Blake speaks up.

"Why don't we split up? We could-" However, she's cut off by Yang before she can finish.

"Split up? Split up?! Have you not _seen_ the horror movies?! When you split up the monster, or in this case monsters, hunts you down one, at, a, time! Starting with the good looking comic relief! Me!" She exclaims, standing in front of Blake and holding the raven haired girl's clothes in her fists, before backing up next to Ruby . **(1)** When she does this, her younger sister pats her shoulder sympathetically.

" _Anyways_ , we're sticking together. Because, Yang is right. At least about the fact that we'd be picked off one at a time." Ruby says, before turning around to face the entrance to the forest. "Now, let's go and get our friend!" She exclaims with a large smile, before pulling out **Crescent Rose** , and making her way into the Emerald forest, the others following her with Weiss at the back, glaring at the tendrils all around them.

After about fifteen minutes of walking through the tendril covered forest, Blake speaks up. "Is anyone else getting the feeling that we're being watched?" She asks, looking around the area as the other three girls do the same.

"Now that you mention it…" Ruby trails off, looking around with Blake as Yang and Weiss turn slightly so that the four of them could look around all at once, and not leave any blind spots in case something attacks them.

"You think it might be that thing from the video that professor Ozpin showed us?" Yang asks, her arms coming up as she readies Ember Celica.

"I think-" Ruby is cut off by a low growl, before a shadowed shape jumps out of the forest from the direction that Yang and Weiss are facing, making the two gain wide eyes as Blake and Ruby turn around to face them, making their own eyes widen at the sight. "…That you're right, Yang." Ruby agrees as her voice squeaks a little when she sees the large shape, before the shadowed figure moves forwards slightly, to reveal a sight that shocks the girls as they stare at the _creature_ as it continues to growl at them.

Standing in front of the group of four girls is a creature that could have once been called an Ursa. However, after the events of the past five days in the forest, it could no longer be classified as being a Grimm. The bone plating was still present, but now, it was a dark black, and seemed more ridged than smooth like an Ursa's. As for the "skin", it was now a mass of what appeared to be red flesh. Its eyes were now a sickly yellow, and a few seconds after the girls see it, the creature looks up into the sky and lets off a loud, screeching howl that isn't even close to the growl, or regular howl, of an Ursa. When this happens, the four girls are still staring at the creature in shock, before it looks at them with narrowed eyes, and then charges them.

When this happens, the girls are able to refocus, and they all roll to the side to dodge the charge, only for the creature to skid to a halt, and attempt to slash at Ruby with its claws, that the girls only now noticed seemed to be longer, and were more curved. However, Weiss comes flying in with the help of one of her glyphs to block the attack… Only for **Myrtenaster** to only succeed in blocking the claws, and not the force of the attack. Unfortunately, this sends the heiress flying back into Ruby, causing the two of them to roll across the ground.

Luckily, before the creature can go after them, it's attacked from behind, causing it to let off another growl as it turns around to face Blake, who's shocked to see that her weapon did practically nothing against the beast since the black bone plating protected it, and there wasn't even a scratch. The creature uses Blake's shock to its advantage, and charges forwards slightly to ram into the raven haired girl, sending her flying away, and making her back hit into a tree, causing her to let off a grunt of pain as she falls to the forest floor.

Suddenly, the creature feels explosions going off against its side, and lets off a howl of pain as it turns to face Yang, who's glaring at the creature as she sends round after round against the thing's hide with **Ember Celica** , only to dodge to the side as the creature lunges towards her. By this time, Ruby and Weiss have stood up from the ground, and are standing beside Yang as the younger girl pulls out **Crescent Rose** , just as Blake walks over to them with a grimace, the pain from hitting into the tree still present at the moment.

The creature sees the four of them staring at it, and in response, it lets off another howl of rage, before charging at them. In response, the girls share quick glances with one another, before dodging to the side once again. However this time, as Yang rolls to the side, she launches another barrage of shotgun blasts into the creature's side, just as Weiss rolls to a standing position, and readies the blue dust inside **Myrtenaster** , before sprinting forwards, and stabbing the creature's side, succeeding in freezing one of its limbs while its distracted by the blonde firing shotgun rounds into its side.

When this happens, Blake runs towards the creature, and swings **Gambol Shroud** at the frozen limb, succeeding in amputating it, and getting a loud howl of anger and pain from the creature, just as Ruby vaults over it, lands in front of it, and then fires **Crescent Rose** at its head at point blank range in an area clear of the bone plating, causing the creature to go silent as it slumps to the ground with a bullet hole in its head. When this happens, the others crowd around it to stare at it, before Yang speaks up.

"I _think_ we just found out what killed the Borbatusk." She says, before the four girls jump back when they see the creature's skin start to slightly writhe, before the entire thing begins to dissolve, almost as if acid had been poured over it. Once the creature is completely dissolved, the four girls continue to stare at the place it used to lay, before Yang speaks up again. "Anyone else freaked out by that?" She asks, getting nods from the others in response, before they turn and continue to walk through the forest, alert in case any more of the "Mutant Ursa" appear, not realizing that some of the tendrils in the forest where slowly creeping after them…

* * *

 **I'll admit, I was tempted to cut it off here. But, I decided to be nice to you guys and completely finish off this arc with an extra-long chapter. So, you're welcome. (Granted, it's basically taking the same amount of time to post even if I separated the parts… But that's not the point!)**

* * *

About half an hour later, the four girls were continuing to walk through the forest, their clothes covered in dirt, with more than a few tears as well. During the extra thirty minutes they'd spent in the forest, they'd faced more of the "Mutant Ursa", although they managed to take them all out quicker than the first one since they'd found out that working together to kill them made everything a lot easier contrary to trying to take them on alone. Hell, even Yang had a bit of trouble during their second run in with one when she tried to go against it on her own, and found out the hard way that getting hit by the things didn't help her Semblance like it should have.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" Weiss asks with a scowl, attempting to brush some of the dirt off her clothes, though not managing very well since they were practically all white. In response to her question, the other three look over their shoulders at her.

"Until we find Zach and bring him back to Beacon. You heard what the headmaster said." Blake responds while Ruby and Yang nod beside her.

"Yeah, and besides we're not gonna let Zach stay out here like he is. We're going to get our teammate and friend back." Ruby tells her partner, Yang giving a devilish smirk beside her as the upper part of her face is covered in shadows.

"And then I'm going to have a little "chat" with him about keeping this to himself." She says, making the others shudder slightly, Ruby pitying Zach for what she believes Yang is going to do to him, while Blake… Well, she'd read enough smut in her "books" to have a better idea of what Yang meant…

"Well I just hope we find that man soon. Although if we don't, I suppose that if this turns out like Sentinel then-" However, Weiss is cut off when Yang turns around to glare at her with her now-red eyes.

"Weiss don't even _think_ about finishing that sentence. What happened there wasn't his fault. So stop blaming him for it. Hell, even professor Ozpin told you that during the meeting. So I don't want to hear any more false accusations." She tells the heiress with a scowl, before turning around once again, and walking through the trees that lead to a certain clearing. And when she sees it, she freezes in her tracks, making the others look at her in confusion, before walking over to stand next to her. What they see shocks them to the core, just as it did to Yang not seconds beforehand.

The clearing that they'd arrived at was the same one where the ruins that they'd had to find for their initiations was. However, it no longer looked the same as it had a few days ago. Now, all the rock that made up the ruins was covered in the red and black tendrils, which continued to grow even as the girl's looked at them. All around the area were large clusters of black spikes that jutted out of the ground, and pointed away from the area, almost as if they were set up that way to keep anything and everything out. However, the main thing that the girls' attention was brought to was the giant sphere of tendrils in the middle of all this, which pulsated, almost like a heart, as tendrils stretched outwards from it, and into the forest.

"Holy sh-" However, before Yang can finish her sentence, she's suddenly picked up from the ground with a yell, making the others turn to look at her in shock.

"Yang!" They all yell, before they notice the mass of red and black tendrils that was wrapped around her leg, keeping her suspended in the air. When they notice this, Blake is quick to react as she takes **Gambol Shroud** , and cuts the mass just before it's able to cover more of the blonde, allowing Yang to fall to the ground in a crouched position, the mass of tendrils writhing as if in pain. And the loud screech that's suddenly emitted from the large sphere of tendrils in the ruins just solidifies that fact.

"I don't think it liked that…" Ruby says as she takes out **Crescent Rose** , and changes it into its scythe form, Weiss looking at her out of the corner of her eyes as she takes out **Myrtenaster**.

"You think?" She asks sarcastically, before all four of the girls are forced to dodge the multiple tendrils that shoot out of the surrounding trees, and keep from being completely covered in them. However, the four are suddenly hit by different tendrils, and end up being hit towards the large sphere, making them roll down the hill before coming to a stop in front of one area of the ground that's completely covered in the tendrils.

They push themselves to their feet, Yang and Blake facing the tendrils coming from the forest, while Ruby and Weiss face the large sphere, which also has tendrils coming off it. "So… Anyone have a plan?" Yang asks as she reloads **Ember Celica** with a fresh batch of shotgun rounds, and then racks them as the tendrils continue to slowly sway in the air a few yards from them, as if waiting for something.

In response to the blonde's question, Ruby takes a look around the area. As far as she could see, nothing would be of much use at the moment. However, before she can continue to think, the tendrils making up the sphere continue to shift a bit more, before the tendrils slowly start to separate, and reveal Zach within. However, the difference about him was that all the tendrils that made up the sphere, and were surrounding the girls, were coming from different parts of his body, allowing him to stay suspended in the air, and not touch the ground. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be in something like the fetal position, with his eyes closed. This only solidified the fact that he wasn't doing all this on purpose, and that his Semblance had indeed taken over.

"Zach!" Yang and Ruby exclaim when they see him, the blonde having turned around when she heard the sound of the tendrils peeling away to reveal the teen inside. The two get ready to charge towards the sphere and free him, but as if the sphere knew what they were planning, it closes the open space once again, before another screech echoes through the air. The girls all wince at the sound, before they're forced to once again dodge in different directions as tendrils shoot at them from all sides.

When Ruby lands, she watches as Yang fires **Ember Celica** at the tendrils trying to attack her, blowing them all into smithereens as they approach her. While the blonde does this, Blake is slicing everything that comes at her, succeeding in making the masses retreat away from her after she cuts them. Ruby looks in a different direction and sees that Weiss is using her glyphs to jump around in the air, and speed along the ground to dodge all the tendrils that try to attack her. As the R of RWBYZ watches this, she's unaware of the mass of tendrils shooting towards her, and when she turns around and sees it, she only has enough time to let off a startled yelp as she holds up **Crescent Rose** , and ends up being shot across the clearing due to the impact against her weapon, before slamming into one of the many spike clusters.

Ruby lets off a slight groan of pain as she pushes herself up, using the spikes as leverage, before her eyes widen and they shoot towards the spikes she's placing her hand on, then to Yang, before they shoot to Blake, and then Weiss. Finally, her eyes rest on **Crescent Rose** in her hands, and she grips it tightly as she looks up with complete seriousness in her eyes as she glares at the sphere of tendrils in the middle of what used to be ruins, and then the tendrils that are moving towards her with the intent of attacking her.

When this happens, she turns **Crescent Rose** so that the top is pointing at the ground, and when the tendrils are close enough to her, she fires. Doing so successfully allows her to launch herself over them, and out of the way as she lands next to her sister just as Yang blows up another mass of tendrils coming at her. "Yang, I have a plan!" Ruby exclaims as she stabs the blade of her sniper-scythe into the ground, and fires at the tendrils that try to attack her sister from behind. Yang looks out of the corner of her eyes at Ruby as she fires at another tendril that tried to attack them.

"I'm all ears Ruby." She says as her sister shoots another tendril coming at her. When Ruby finishes telling her sister the plan, Yang has a smile on her face. "You know Ruby, only you would think of a plan like that." She says, racking her gauntlets yet again as Ruby smiles.

"Think you can pull it off?" She asks, getting a scoff from Yang in response.

"Please. You know me better than to ask that sis." She says, before she starts running towards another mass of tendrils that were trying to attack her. In response, the smirk on her face widens, and she shoots the mass with **Ember Celica** , creating a large explosion when the explosive rounds impact the tendrils. Suddenly, Yang runs out of the smoke that it caused, making the tendrils that had been heading towards her previous location stop. While this happens, Yang continues to run, before she's standing next to one of the clusters of black spikes.

When she stops, she immediately grabs one of the shorter spikes, and pulls. After a few seconds, the spike snaps, and Yang is able to hold it in her hands as she turns around to face the giant sphere of tendrils, which she then runs at with a yell of anger as her eyes turn red, before she leaps into the air, jumping over tendrils that shoot at her in the process, and then slashes the tendrils open with the spike, getting another pained screech from the sphere as the tendrils are separated, revealing the sleeping Zach. When this happens, Ruby turns to face the raven haired girl of the group.

"Blake!" Ruby exclaims, getting a nod from the girl in question, who then slices another mass of in half as they head towards her, before running towards the sphere, Ruby covering her the entire time with sniping support. "Weiss!" She exclaims as Blake gets closer to the sphere, getting a slight scowl, but a nod none-the-less as the heiress holds out her hand, and a glyph appears beneath her as she bends slightly.

While this happens, Blake closes in on the sphere, before leaping forwards, and uses her Semblance to cut all the tendrils that were connecting Zach to the sphere along with her shadow images, jumping back as the teen within the sphere starts to fall, only to be caught by Weiss as the heiress propels herself forwards using her glyph, and then uses another to jump away from the sphere as it lets off the loudest screech yet, and the tendrils that are attached to it start to writhe about as if in pain, before they all start to dissolve into nothing due to the sphere no longer being connected to its host. This includes all the tendrils that were coving other parts of the Emerald forest.

The four girls watch this with small smiles on their faces, knowing that they'd succeeded in their mission. However, they're brought out of their thoughts by a groan, and turn around to face Zach as he starts to wake up, and pushes himself off the ground. "Monty, I feel like I was just run over by a car. Must have consumed a lot more than… Usual…" He says, trailing off near the end when he looks up to find Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake looking at him, making his eye widen as he looks at the four of them. "What are you four doing here?" He asks, a bit panicked at the sight as Weiss scowls at him, Blake gives a small frown along with Ruby, and Yang…

"We came here to save your ass." She tells him with red eyes and a frown of her own, making Zach look at her in confusion and a bit of fear, before his mouth drops open and he looks around to see the other three nodding. In response, he swallows the lump in his throat, before turning back to Yang.

"How long have I been out here?" He asks, fearing the answer.

"…Five days." Yang says, making Zach's eyes widen even more as he looks at the others to see them once again nodding in agreement, making him pull his knees to his chest, and wrap his arms around them.

"By Monty… I didn't think it would happen this fast…" He mutters, before looking up at the others. "How… How bad did it get?" He asks them in a quiet voice as his secluded self makes itself known once again, making Yang's face soften as she walks forwards, and kneels beside him as she places her hand on his shoulder.

"Those tendrils of yours almost covered the entire forest." She explains, making his eyes widen once again, before he shuts them and looks down at the ground.

"Damn it. Damn it all to hell…" He mutters, before he feels Yang place her hand over his, and he raises his head to look at her.

"It's alright Zach. We stopped it… Now come on, professor Ozpin probably wants to talk to you about this…" She says, getting a nod in response as Zach slowly makes his way onto his feet, stumbling a bit due to not using them at all during the five days that he'd been stuck in the sphere, before the five of them head back towards the point that they'd been dropped off, during different days that is, with Yang helping Zach along so that he wouldn't fall onto the ground.

* * *

 **Zach's POV:**

* * *

After arriving back at Beacon, the five of us were immediately called up to Ozpin's office. Nothing to really note happened there, but let's just say that from now on, whenever I leave the academy for _that_ reason, the rest of my team is going to be sent in during the third day to not only make sure that I come back on time, but also to stop anything like this from happening again. I have to agree with Goodwitch on what she said. "The last thing we need is another Sentinel." But, after our meeting, me and the rest of Team RWBYZ returned to our room for the day in order for most of us to get some much needed rest. But, Yang seemed to have other ideas for the two of us.

Said ideas being her straddling me as I lie down on my bed with my jacket and hoodie off, while Yang has her own jacket off as her eyes glow red. Though from anger or excitement, I'm not entirely sure… Probably both. Suddenly, she puts on hand on my chest, and grips my shirt as she leans down to give me a hungry kiss, shoving her tongue into my mouth as she does so. When I go to do the same, she constantly pushes her own against mine, and then uses her hands to press my wrists to the bed, before pulling back. "Damn it Zach, do you know how worried I was when Ozpin showed us those notes about what you do?" She growls, and before I can answer, she once again starts another hungry kiss, before pulling back a few seconds later. "The whole time we were in that forest, I was worried about what might have happened to you." She once again growls, kissing me before I can answer for a second time.

After a few minutes, she pulls back. "And that's why you're going to make it up to me. I might know how we both like it, but tonight, you're going to do what _I_ say Zach. And if you try something…" She trails off as one of her hands trails down my chest, to my abs, before she grabs onto my balls and squeezes slightly, getting a pained grunt from me in response. "I'm gonna squeeze your balls just like I did to Junior." She tells me, before going in for another hungry kiss, myself not doing anything since right now, I know that I owe it to Yang… And I don't want to have raisins for balls. As she continues to kiss me, I groan a bit, since she'd moved her other hand to my chest, and was now rubbing it. When she pulls back from the kiss, her eyes are still red, but now they're entirely from excitement.

"The first thing I want you to do Zach… Take off your shirt." She purrs, myself simply giving a light chuckle since I know she's going to have fun with this, and then proceed to do as she "orders". When my shirt's off, I toss it away, and then turn back to see that Yang is moving her eyes up and down my body, licking her lips a bit as she puts both her hands on my bare chest. She hums as she trails her hands down to my abs, making me groan a bit as she pushes down. She gives a sultry chuckle at my response, before she leans down to place kisses along my chest, and then up to my neck. This gets more groans from me in response, and a few seconds later, she's breathing into my ear.

"Now Zach, I'm only getting started." She whispers, before sitting up, and bringing my hands to her hips as she smirks down at me. I get what she wants me to do, and my hands move to her ass a few seconds later, before I start to squeeze and knead it, getting quiet moans from the blonde straddling me, before she gives me a sultry smile as I continue. A few seconds later, she's once again running her hands over my abs, but she's also leaning down so that her breasts are pressed against my chest as she practically dominates me while giving me a hungry kiss. After a few seconds, she once again pulls away, only to place her lips on my neck as she starts to kiss me there, getting more groans from me as she continues, before she suddenly bites down, getting a slightly louder groan in response.

"That's it Zach. I want to hear how much you like this… And I want to hear it all night." She whispers into my ear in a sultry tone, making shivers run down my back at what she's implying, before she once again presses her lips to mine and shoves her tongue into my mouth. As she does this, she moves her hands down to mine that were still placed on her ass, before moving them up her waist, moaning into the kiss as she does so. Then, she moves my hands higher, before breaking the kiss and letting off a slightly louder moan as she presses them to her breasts, sitting up as she does this while she raises her head to look at the ceiling.

"Come on Zach… I would have thought that you would love this." She says a few seconds later, lowering her head to give me a seductive smile, making me give a small smirk as I squeeze a bit harder, making her give another moan as she tilts her head back once again.

"Or course Yang… And I'd have to say that you like this as well." I tell her, making her look down at me.

"Now Zach…" She says, moving one of her hands down to the back of my head. " _I'm_ the one in control here." She growls, before she suddenly pulls my lips up to hers as she captures them in a heated kiss, and shoves her tongue into my mouth once again as she moves her hand away from mine and onto my chest, before pushing me down onto the bed once again. As this continues, the hand on the back of my head goes away, before I break the kiss to give a light gasp as her hand trails teasingly over my pants.

"Y-Yang." I start, only to be cut off as the hand on my chest moves up to the back of my head once again.

"Shut it Zach." She growls in a sultry voice, pulling me into a kiss once again, separating a few seconds later. "I don't want to hear anything from you except your groans, and the sounds you make when my tongue is in your mouth." She says, once again starting another kiss as she continues to trail her hands over my pants, making me groan into the kiss, which mixes with her moans as I continue to squeeze and knead her breasts while our make-out session continues, Yang staying on top the entire time as she practically dominates me. And I'll say this much. Even if I'm making it up to Yang… I'd be lying if I said seeing her like this wasn't hot as hell.

After an hour or so, she eventually moves off me, and lies on the bed beside me. Resting her head on my chest as I run my hand through her hair. "…I'm sorry." I whisper to her a few minutes later, making her raise her head to look at me, and give me a soft kiss on the lips, which is unlike the ones that she gave me during our make-out session. Instead, this one shows me just how much she cares for me, just like the one she gave me the other day.

"I wasn't lying to you earlier Zach. You really had me worried. And I'm sure that Ruby was too." She tells me in a quiet voice, making me sigh as I lie back on my bed and stare at the ceiling.

"I know… It's just… I never thought it would get this bad at this point in time. Far into the future after I eventually told you about this, yes. But now? I really wasn't expecting it." I tell her with another sigh, only to stop as she places another soft kiss on my lips, this one lasting a few more seconds than the last one.

"But why didn't you tell us?" She asks with a bit of betrayal in her voice, making me give another sigh of regret as I turn to face her and answer her question honestly.

"I thought… I thought that it might've made you turn your guys' backs on me. Try to leave me after you found out that I-"

 _~Smack!~_

Suddenly, I'm cut off as I'm slapped by Yang, who has tears at the edge of her eyes. "Don't you dare say that Zach. You know that me and Ruby wouldn't even think about leaving you! So don't you go thinking that we would! You mean to much to Ruby! You mean to much to _me_! So-" However, this time Yang is the one to be cut off, as I sit up and place my hands on her shoulders while I pull her into another kiss. She immediately stops yelling at me, and wraps her arms around my back as she returns the kiss, the two of us falling back onto the bed as we continue, before we part. When we do, I wipe away the few tears still present at the corners of her eyes.

"I know Yang. And I was stupid to think like that. I said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm sorry for not telling you guys about it." I tell her, making her give me a small smile as she rests her head in the crook of my neck as we continue to lie there. The calm silence being enough for the two of us as I run my hand through her hair, until we both eventually fall asleep. A state of peace around us as we continue to just lie in each other's arms.

And it was one of the few nights that I didn't have any nightmares…

* * *

 **References:**

 **(1):** Teen Titans: Beastboy's line during the episode "Fear Itself".

 **Author's Note Part 1: Well, that concludes this original arc. And I've gotta say, this is my longest chapter for this fanfiction so far! I mean, over 10,000 words? Yeah, that's quite a bit in terms of this fanfiction. (Though, that's counting both Author's Notes as well…) But, length of the chapter aside, let's get to what actually happened!**

 **So as you guys can see, I've explained quite a bit about Zach's Semblance during this chapter, although I did change some things as I went along. At first, the Mutated Ursa was supposed to be a Devastator from Prototype 2, but then I changed my mind when I thought, "What if Zach's semblance could affect Grimm in a certain way?" And thus, the Mutated Ursa was born… Granted, I'll probably find a different name for it in the future, but I can't think of a good one at the moment…**

 **Now, as for Zach's problem, you guys read above how I've made it so that at the end of each month, Zach gest a "basic need" to consume all "living" things in the vicinity, ranging from Grimm, to actual humans. I'll touch more on this in the story that I'm gonna write after this one, which will go over Zach's past in _a lot_ more detail, and will take place between Volumes 1 and 2, just like I told you in the first Author's Note.**

 **Also, on a related note to the Volumes. I _may_ come back to this at some point and have the possibility of needing to completely re-write it. Now, this is _not_ going to be like my others where I simply think of something that will work better! No, I'm saying I may need to re-write it because of the fact that Volume 3 is currently in the works, and I heard somewhere that originally, Monty had worked on a good 5 to 6 _seasons_ for this series with the others that worked on it. So, depending on what shows up in the later Volumes, as well as seasons… Well, that'll basically decide the future of this fanfiction. But, seeing as we're still on Volume 2 of season _one_ at the moment… I feel like it'll be a while before I find out if I need to re-write this.**

 **Anyways, two more things that I want to say to you guys before I start to reply to the reviews I got. The first is that I might, and I stress _might_ , end up placing this story in the actual Prototype crossover category. The reason for this is that I feel like I might be taking a bit much from that category, and if I continue to do so, I feel like it would be better if I placed it in an actual crossover category, rather than just the regular RWBY one. Although, I feel like the people who don't care about that category might end up missing out if they don't _look_ for the crossover category, and simply want to read RWBY stories. So I don't want them to miss out on anything if they're interested in this, but not the crossover.**

 **Anyways, the last thing I want to say is… I'm gonna be starting another RWBY story soon.**

 **Yes, I know, it will just add more to my already heavy work load of almost 40 stories. However, the idea appeared in my head when I read another crossover between RWBY and another series, and I decided that I wanted to write something similar, but with an OC of mine and with major changes so that it won't be present in the crossover category in question. So, expect that to be coming out sometime in the future. I might start to work on it after I finish this story, or I might work on it after all three stories of this series are done so that I can focus on one at a time. But, either way, you can expect another OC x Yang story, with a different character with a _very_ different personality… And no, I'm not going to tell you what crossover category inspired this because I don't want to give it away!**

 **…**

 **And now writing this out made me think of a third category…**

 **Damn.**

 **But, now that I've gone over those, let's get to actually going over the reviews that you guys were awesome enough to give me!**

 **Phoenix Commander:**

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if you were right in your assumption or not, because I've only heard a bit about that anime. As for watching it, I definitely will at some point, but in case you couldn't tell, writing my stories has kinda taken over my summer life… As for the compliment, thank you, and I hope this met expectations of awesomeness!

 **GeassDragon:**

Thanks for the compliment! As for the POV, you can see that I've only swapped once in each chapter, it's just that I switched location quite a bit. As you can see, I tried not to do that this time around. I also hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one!

 **FanficCrossoverMaster15:**

Sorta slipped my mind. Thanks for the correction, and I'll go back to fix that at the same time that I re-read the entire story to fix the other mistakes that people have mentioned to me. But, I hope that you're enjoying the story so far none-the-less!

 **Guest:**

Well, if you look closely in this chapter, you should be able to tell a bit about his past. As for the repetition of words… Yeah, the "tendrils" I can't do much about, as seen in this chapter, but as for "seductive", well, I'll see what I can do about turning that down. But I mean… This is Yang we're talking about here.

As for your last comment… Yeah, bad thoughts for you indeed. For shame. For sha~~~~me… But what I hate is that your comment made me think about that -_-… Yeah, there's no fucking way I'm implementing any of that shit…

 **SPARTAN-626:**

Well, once again, I've given a few more hints this chapter about his past, but for the people who have played the Prototype games, they'll have a fairly good idea of where I'm going with this. As for the chapter that your character comes in, I'll make sure that you're the first that reads it, just in case you want to double check the time(s) that he comes in so that you can figure out if I've done a good job or not.

 **Anime PJ:**

Thanks! And as you can see, this Original Chapter is actually longer than all my others! Go figure, huh? As for the shit going down… Well, you saw for yourself this chapter just what happened. And even though I thought about splitting it into two, well, you can see the final decision for yourself right now. For other things… Well, you also read about the fact that I have an entire _story_ planned, so you can definitely look forwards to that.

Yeah, I think the thing that made me think about watching it the most was when I saw a picture, and all I could focus on was "Giant Scythe that can turn into a Sniper Rifle… Yeah, I think I'm sold." As for Percy Jackson, I look forwards to when you will understand the small references that I make, but I understand completely why it might take you a while to actually start reading them.

 **Grimmreapper90:**

Well as you can see, I've started taking a bit from both games, and there's only more to come my friend! That being said, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as much as the last ones, and I hope that you continue to enjoy the chapters that I upload in the future!

 **Well, that's about it for this chapter guys. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to watch this, and I hope that I'll see you all in the next chapter!**

 **(Updated July 25th, 2015: Well guys, again, not much changed here except for a few miniscule details, fixing grammar mistakes, and the small things like that… However, I've also found out that there's now a _fourth_ idea that's popped into my head, and I just need to check to see if it's been done. Which, I don't believe it has… Damn me and my ADD brain. But, all this aside, now that I'm done updating, I can get to actually writing a new chapter!)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Cardin Winchester: Bully Extraordinaire**

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 1:**

 **(IMPORTANT NOTE: I've gone back and edited my past chapters, a few of which actually have quite a few important changes to the plot! So, make sure you go back and re-read those to make sure you're caught up on what's happening!)**

 **So in this chapter, I'm gonna go over the events near the beginning of the Jaune (story) Arc of RWBY. However, I'm going to stick with canon, but continue writing my original chapters at the same time. What I mean by that is that during this arc, it's mentioned how Cardin bullies Jaune for a week,** ** _at least_** **. So, I'll be going over a few events that happen over that time.**

 **Now, since I can now add in the fighting classes that Goodwitch teaches, that also means that I'll be able to write in other classes, where actual things happen in them other than the regular lessons. So, expect more original chapters to include fights, one of which I'm** ** _really_** **excited to write, and another one that is no doubt expected from most of you, and will have an outcome that will either satisfy almost everyone reading since I mentioned it in a previous chapter, or leave you all wanting a completely different outcome.**

 **Another thing that you guys might be interested in knowing is that I've made some progress with my other RWBY stories, and that you can expect them to be uploaded at some point in the near future. However, with the other stories that I'm focusing on at the moment, it's still gonna be a while before I post new ones.**

 **Also, might I suggest the RWBY story "Giant-Slayer" by** **NeoNazo356** **? They've done a great job with their story, especially since it has quite a few twists that set it apart from the others in this category. Ranging from a slightly changed history of Remnant, to making things in the series more realistic. It's honestly one of the best RWBY stories that I've read on the site!**

 **Anyways, now that I've gone over these topics, let's get to the actual chapter, shall we?**

* * *

 **Zach's POV:**

* * *

I wince as the buzzer sounds through the auditorium, and watch as Goodwitch walks onto the stage. "That's enough." She tells Cardin, who had raised his mace above his head to swing it down on Jaune, who's lying on the ground after getting kneed in the gut by the auburn haired teen. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red." She says, bringing our attention to the two screens that are present above the stage the three are standing on, and show pictures of the two boys, each with a "health bar" beneath them.

"In a tournament-style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match." Goodwitch continues, and I hear mutters coming from the Shades behind me as they listen to the teacher's words. However, Goodwitch doesn't exactly help with her next words. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. _Please_ try to refer to your scroll during combat." She says, looking at the blond teen as he pulls out said device, looking at the screen in defeat as he does so.

"Gaging your aura will help you decide when it is appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more… _Defensive_ strategy." She continues, making Jaune sigh. "We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now would we?" She asks him, and I see Cardin mutter something to himself as he slings his mace onto his shoulder, staring down at Jaune.

"She's not exactly helping out here, is she?" I whisper to Yang, making the blonde shake her head in response. As it turns out, over the past couple weeks since my little… _Incident_ , Yang had been trying to get me to be myself in public more and more. And luckily, it was working. Now, I could talk normally in public, along with a few other things like joking around. However, my Semblance is still on hold for me using it for everyone to see, along with a lot of other things. But, I digress. After speaking to Jaune for a moment, Goodwitch turns back to face the audience.

"Remember everyone, the Vytal festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale." She tells us, making Yang, Weiss and Ruby start to express their excitement beside me, while I shiver in response. After all, most people from _every_ kingdom know about me… And it's _not_ in the good way. However, after a couple seconds of fearing what may happen to me at the time of the festival, I re-focus on Goodwitch as she continues talking to the audience.

"Those who wish to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale." She tells us, before bringing up her scroll to look at it. **(Making a slight change to canon here with the length of the class, since I just want to write this part in. So, don't go telling me about how the bell rang a couple seconds after she said her speech, since I already know that.)** "Now, I believe that we have time for one more match. So, since Mr. Winchester won his previous spar, he will also be present in this one." She says as Jaune pushes himself to his feet, and makes his way off the stage with heavy steps and a frown on his face.

I gain a frown of my own when I see his expression, knowing that on the inside he's probably beating himself up over what he did, since by now, Cardin's aura had returned to normal, and the screen that previously contained Jaune's picture is shuffling through multiple ones, meaning that whoever the teen is going to face next is going to be random. Then, the pictures start to slow down, before the whole auditorium goes silent at the picture that's shown…

Mine.

After the silence continues for a few seconds, the entire area suddenly breaks out into whispers, while I slowly push myself up off the bench, and make my way towards the stage. Goodwitch looks at her scroll, before looking up at me with an almost apologetic look on her face. I simply give her a shrug as I sigh, knowing that this would have to happen sooner or later. I'd managed to make it through the year so far without having to participate, and I knew it would only be a matter of time. So, as Goodwitch steps off the stage to watch the match, I roll my neck a little to get ready for what I'm about to do.

Meanwhile, Cardin is simply giving me a smug smirk as he taps the handle of his mace into his palm repeatedly. Then, the lights dim… And the sparring match begins.

* * *

 **3** **rd** **Person POV:**

* * *

The audience watches as the lights dim around the room, before a single light shines on the stage. Everyone stays silent as a timer ticks down above said stage, watching as Cardin holds his mace at the ready, while the other teen simply stands on the opposite side with his hands in his jacket's pockets, and his hood over his head. Then, the timer reaches zero, and Cardin rushes forwards with a yell.

After getting within a few feet of Zach, who hadn't moved the entire time, he swings the mace down towards the hooded-teen's head in an attempt to end the fight right away, only for said teen to move to the side and dodge the blow. When this happens, Cardin's mace impacts the stage, and he's forced to pull it out of the floor. By the time he's done that, Zach had moved a good distance away, and was just watching Cardin.

Most of the audience is confused by this, since the hood-wearing teen had a perfect opportunity to attack the mace-wielding teen for quite a few seconds. However, there are a couple people who see what happened, and smile. These two are Ruby and Yang, and they share a glance and a smile when they realize what he's doing. Back on the stage, Cardin scowls at the teen, and then rushes forwards once again, this time attempting to hit Zach in the side, only for the brunet teen to jump backwards to dodge the blow, making Cardin turn with the momentum, and then move his mace to once again try and bring it down on Zach's head.

However, Zach notices this, as well as one other thing that's happened to Cardin's weapon, and dodges to the side once again. However, this time he dodges a few feet, and because of this dodges the explosion that occurs when Cardin's mace hits the floor. When Cardin sees this, his scowl deepens, and he quickly lifts his mace again, running towards the teen as he swings the mace at Zach, trying to hit him in the head, chest, legs, stomach, and his arms.

However, throughout all this, Zach simply keeps his hands in his pockets and continues to dodge the blows. As the fight continues, most of the audience is still confused as to what's happening, and some are frowning at the fact that the teen fighting Cardin isn't even bothering to fight back. Then, after about five more minutes of Cardin attempting to hit Zach, they finally notice a change. Cardin is starting to breathe heavily after each swing. When this happens, Zach finally acts.

After Cardin tires to swing downwards on his head once again, he moves to the side, and allows the mace to impact the stage. Then, once it hits the floor, he places one foot on the weapon, before bringing his other foot up and Sparta Kicks the other teen away, leaving the mace stuck on the stage, while Cardin is sent stumbling backwards. However, Zach doesn't stop there. When Cardin is separated from his mace, he sprints forwards, and then flips so that his hands are on the ground, and proceeds to kick Cardin on his arms, Chest and legs, before finally flipping back onto his feet, kicking Cardin's chin as he does so and launching the teen into the air.

When Zach lands back on his feet, he places his hands back in his pockets, and stands there as Cardin falls back onto the floor in a crumpled heap, coughing a bit as he places his hand to his chest, and the lights turn back on. When this happens, everyone stares at the screens above the stage, and sees that while Zach still has his entire aura bar filled, Cardin's is down in the red. As the mace-wielding teen continues to cough, Goodwitch steps back onto the stage with her scroll in hand.

"And that's the match. Well done Mr. Mercer." She says to Zach, getting a _very_ small smile from the teen in response as he nods at the teacher, making Goodwitch give a mental smile as well at the sight of the teen finally starting to open up to more than just Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. Her, like every other teacher at Beacon, knew the _true_ story about what happened to Zach Mercer thanks to professor Ozpin, and felt horrible for what Zach had to endure. However, that aside, she looks down at her scroll once again.

"As Mr. Mercer has just demonstrated students, there is more than one way to beat an opponent. In Mr. Winchester's case, he was able to overpower Mr. Arc, and bring his aura into the red. While Mr. Mercer chose to instead exhaust Mr. Winchester, before defeating him while he was too tired to fight back." She tells the room, causing mutters to break out when they realize just what Zach had done to the mace-wielding teen.

A few seconds later, the bell rings to signal the end of class, and Zach makes his way off the stage as Cardin glares at his retreating form. When the brunet teen reaches his friends, he's immediately congratulated on his win, while Yang chooses to envelop him in a hug that presses her breasts against his chest, while at the same time having a seductive smirk on her face. After talking for a couple minutes, teams RWBYZ and JNPR head off to the cafeteria to get lunch, and relax before they have to return to classes afterwards.

* * *

"So… There we were… In the _middle_ , of the _night_ …" Nora says, narrowing her eyes as she looks around the table that teams RWBYZ and JNPR had taken.

"It was Day." Ren tells them as he holds his coffee mug in one hand, a bored look on his face that tells Zach that this was a normal occurrence.

"We were _surrounded_ by _Ursa~~~~i_ …" Nora continues, ignoring what Ren says, and getting a nod from Yang as she listens to the story telling, while Zach sits between her and Blake, a small smile present as he looks at the excited look on the blonde's face.

"They were Beowolves." Ren corrects his friend once again.

"Dozens of them!" Nora exclaims as she pushes herself up so that she's standing, making Yang give a start, before nodding with the smile still on her face, getting a quiet chuckle out of the brunet teen beside her.

"Two of them." Ren corrects Nora for a third time.

"But they were no match. And in the end, Ren and I took them down! And made a boat-load of Lien selling Ursa, skin, rugs!" Nora says in a smug tone as she sits down once again and crosses her arms. In response to her story, Ren simply sighs before looking at the members of Team RWBYZ.

"She's been having this reoccurring dream for _nearly_ a month now…" He tells them, getting a nod from Zach.

"Believe me, I know how that feels." He tells Ren with a grimace, making Yang, Ruby and Blake all glance over at him, while Weiss simply ignores what he said and continues to file her nails. However, before they can ask anything about it, Pyrrha speaks up from her place next to Jaune.

"Jaune, are you okay?" She asks the blond teen, making the others, sans Weiss, turn to look at him as they see that he's just staring at his plate as he idly pushes around his food. When he realizes that everyone is looking at him, he gives a start, before turning to face the redhead beside him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah… Why?" He asks, making Ruby give him a concerned look while Zach gives the blond teen a similar look, trying to figure out why he's acting the way he is. He already has a good idea, but he stops thinking about it as Ruby speaks up.

"It's just, you seem a little… _Not_ , okay." Ruby finally says after searching for a word, only to come up empty. Jaune looks around at the other people at the table, noticing that they're all focused on him, waiting for a response. Being under the stares of everyone else, he finally realizes a small percentage of how Zach has felt over the past five years… Not that he knew it's been five years.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look!" He exclaims as he tries, and fails, to look like he's completely fine by giving everyone a thumbs up, while at the same time giving them a smile as he chuckles nervously. No one believes his response. However, they're all distracted by laughter coming from a few tables away, and turn to see that it's Cardin and his team as they make fun of a rabbit Faunus. When they see this, they all glare at the auburn haired teen, a few of the people from teams RWBYZ and JNPR clenching their fists in anger at his behavior, before Pyrrha starts talking to Jaune again.

"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the _first week_ of school." The redhead tells the blond teen beside her, making Jaune turn to face her, unclenching his fists as he does so.

"Who? Cardin Winchester?" He asks, pretending as if he didn't actually know. "Nah! He just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes!" He tells them, attempting to wave off their claims even though he knows it's the truth. However…

"He's a bully." Ruby states plainly, Zach nodding from his place beside Yang as he watches the auburn haired teen and the rest of his team continue to make fun of the rabbit Faunus. However, Jaune continues to act as if he doesn't know what his friends are talking about.

"Oh please. Tell me one time he's "bullied" me." Jaune tells them, putting air quotes around the word "bullied" as he gives a nervous laugh. However…

"The time he knocked the book out of your hand in the hall. On purpose." Pyrrha says.

"The time he activated your shield and got you stuck in the doorframe." Ruby adds.

"When he launched you off the Academy grounds in your rocket-locker." Zach says to the blond teen, everyone looking at the blond when Zach brings this up.

"I didn't land far from the _school_." He argues, only for Pyrrha to speak up again, while Zach simply shakes his head as he realizes that Jaune is really trying to play this off. He knew all too well what happened when you did that from his time trying to separate himself from people.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help you can just _ask_." The redhead says, making Nora stand up.

"Oh! We'll _break his legs_!" She exclaims with a slightly sadistic smile on her face, making Zach give a similar smile as he stands up as well.

"I am in complete agreement with Nora." He says, high-fiving the girl across the table while still looking at Jaune. This was one thing that could get him out of his secluded state. Enacting some much needed karma upon a bully. However, Jaune seems to disagree.

"Guys! _Really_ , it's _fine_." He tells them as he stands up, picking up his tray of food as he does so. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone." He says in a matter-of-fact voice, before everyone's attention is brought back to the teen in question as the rabbit Faunus starts to yell in pain at the auburn haired teen.

"Ow, that hurts!" She exclaims, and teams RWBYZ and JNPR watch as Cardin starts pulling at her ears, laughing with the rest of his team as he does so. "Please, stop." The rabbit Faunus continues, while Team CRDL just continues to laugh.

"It _told you_ it was real." The auburn haired leader says as he turns to face the other three.

"What a freak." The one with the Mohawk says as Cardin finally lets go of the rabbit Faunus' ears, allowing her to walk away with tears of pain in the corners of her eyes. Teams RWBYZ and JNPR watch as she walks by their table, Pyrrha turning to the others with disgust on her face.

"Atrocious." She comments, getting nods of agreement from everyone else. "I can't _stand_ people like him." She says, making Blake and Zach sigh in response.

"He's not the only one." The raven haired girl states, Zach nodding beside her while Yang slumps a bit and leans her head on her hand.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus." She says with a sad look, getting another nod from Zach in agreement. However, as they converse, Jaune gets up and starts to walk away. When he does this, Cardin watches him go with a smirk on his face, which Zach notices, making him scowl.

 _I don't like the smirk that he has on the ugly mug of his…_ Zach thinks to himself, before he's brought back to the table as Yang starts flirting with him once again in an attempt to get everyone's mind off the depressing air hanging around. When she does this, Zach allows a small smile to make its way onto his face as he joins her the best way he can since he's still slightly secluded, getting different responses out of the others present ranging from stifled laughter to complete embarrassment.

* * *

Around half an hour later, the three teams are in their History class, taught by Doctor Oobleck. The interesting thing about this teacher is that even though he moves as fast as Ruby can when she uses her Semblance, Oobleck is able to move that fast simply by drinking large amounts of coffee. Zach idly notices how the mug that he has must use the same Anime Logic as professor Ozpin's, since it never seems to run out of the coffee that he needs.

"Yes, yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popular known as the "Faunus War", human kind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie." Oobleck tells the class as he zips over in front of the map at the front of his class, and points to one island in particular. After doing so, he zips back over beside his desk, and takes another sip from his mug of coffee. Zach shakes his head at this with a small smile, already knowing from past classes that this man has a coffee addiction that appeared to outclass even Ozpin's.

"Now, while this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively _recent_ events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day." Oobleck continues as he zips around the desks that are closest to the front of the class, before taking another sip from his coffee mug. "Now, have any of you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" He asks as he continues to zip around the front of the class.

In response to his question, only a few Faunus raise their hands, one of which being the rabbit Faunus from earlier. When this happens, Zach frowns and shares a look with Yang, the two of them noticing the hesitance that all the Faunus had when this question was asked. "Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember students, it is _precisely_ this kind of ignorance that breeds violence." He tells the class, and then takes yet another sip from his coffee mug. "I mean, I mean… I mean, just look at what happened to the White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what _many_ theorists believe to be the turning point, in the third year of the war?" He asks them as he continues to zip around the front of the class.

When he asks this, Weiss' hand flies into the air, and Oobleck calls on her. "The battle at Fort Castle." She replies as Oobleck once again zips behind his desk. As this happens, the rest of the class takes notes, since with how Oobleck goes about class, note were a necessity to remember anything that happened over the hour of history.

"Precisely!" Oobleck exclaims, before looking over the other students, his gaze lingering on Zach for a few moments as he gives a barely noticeable wince, since there was going to be one lesson that he was going to have to teach this year, that he didn't like going over, even though it was a necessity. And with Zach Mercer being present… However, he pushes that thought away for now, and focuses on the current lesson. " _And_ , who can tell me the _advantage_ the Faunus had over General LeGume's forces?" The history teacher asks the class.

Unfortunately, Cardin launches a "paper football" at Jaune's head right after Oobleck asks this, making Jaune give a startled yelp as he stops dozing off, and causing the teacher to ask _him_ to answer the question. When he's unable to answer, Pyrrha attempts to help him, only for Jaune not to understand the hints she's giving him, and causing him to make himself seem stupid. When Cardin chuckles at Jaune's misfortune, Oobleck calls on him, only for his answer to reveal him to be even more of a racist.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an _animal_ than a _soldier_." He says, making some of the Faunus in the room flinch when they're referred to as "animals", while a couple send hateful looks at the auburn haired teen, along with a few humans in the room that didn't believe the same things as him. Teams RWBYZ and JNPR are amongst the second group. Meanwhile, Oobleck shakes his head at the front of class when he hears the racist answer that Cardin gives. Then, Pyrrha speaks up.

"You're not the most, _open minded_ of individuals, are you Cardin?" She asks, making the auburn haired teen turn to look at her.

"What? You got a problem?" He asks Pyrrha in annoyance, making the redhead turn back to face Oobleck.

"No… I have the answer. It's _night vision_." She says, making Zach smirk next to Yang as the two once again share at look at Cardin getting insta-karma'd. "Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight, in the dark." She tells the history teacher. When she says this, Cardin growls to himself in annoyance and anger, before Blake starts speaking.

"General LeGume was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." The raven haired girl of Team RWBYZ says, making Oobleck nod at the front of class, before Blake turns to look at Cardin as she continues. " _Perhaps_ if he'd paid attention in class, he _wouldn't_ have been remembered as _such_ a failure." She says, making Cardin stand up and face her with a glare as one of his hands clenches into a fist, and the rest of class gives the classic "Ooh" at the insult.

However, before anything else can be said or done, Oobleck begins to speak once again. "Mr. Winchester, please take your seat." He tells the auburn haired teen with a sigh, making Jaune start to snicker at Cardin's misfortune, only for Oobleck to continue talking to Cardin, but look at the blond as he speaks. "You _and_ Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." He tells them, making Jaune sag in his chair, before Oobleck once again zips around the front of the room. "Now, moving on!" He exclaims, making the other students once again start to take notes on the subject.

For the rest of class, Oobleck continued to go over the battle of Fort Castle, while the students took as many notes as they could from the facts that Oobleck told them. While this happened, Cardin continued to glare at Pyrrha, occasionally sending glares at Zach as well when he remembered what had happened in combat class earlier that day. However, over the past couple weeks, Yang had basically been stripping down all manner of defenses he had around his secluded self, so he'd learned how to ignore the glares that Cardin sent him.

* * *

When the bell rings to signal the end of class, Team RWBYZ and the NPR of Team JNPR head outside the classroom, with the prior team heading back to their dorm, while Nora and Ren follow them, and Pyrrha stays behind to wait for Jaune. When Team RWBYZ, and Nora and Ren reach their rooms, they say goodbye to one another, before entering their separate rooms. Once they get inside, Team RWBYZ immediately gets started on the homework they'd been assigned.

Zach manages to talk Yang into doing it right away by promising her "extra alone time" if she completes it all, while Weiss always did her homework right away, as did Blake. For Ruby, she'd started to do the work that she was assigned whenever she had time, after her talk with Ozpin about being the leader of Team RWYBZ. From then on, she'd been doing her best to _act_ like the leader to the team, and do everything that she had to. Luckily, the only homework the team had been assigned that day was for history, and professor Port's class. So, everyone was able to finish within a half hour, and then go over the material all together.

When this is done, and the homework is placed in their bags to be brought to their classes the next day, Yang immediately grabs Zach, drags him into his part of the room, and locks the door behind them. When the others see this happen, Ruby blushes up a storm as she immediately climbs into her bed and pulls the "tent" that's around it closed, Weiss' eye twitches as she gets into her own bed, and Blake can't help but blush a little as she sends a glance at her hiding place for her "Ninjas of Love" book when she thinks about what the two are no doubt about to do. Meanwhile, inside Zach's part of the room, the brunet in question sits down on his bed, and Yang straddles his lap as she flicks her hair behind her head, and gives him a seductive smile.

"Now _Mr. Mercer_ , I believe that you promised me some time alone in here with you." She whispers, making Zach give her a smirk as he rests his hands on her waist, rubbing the exposed skin there, and getting quiet hums of content from the blonde straddling him.

"You're right Ms. Xiao Long, I _did_ promise to spend some time in here with you, didn't I?" He asks her rhetorically, before leaning forwards to lightly nibble at her neck, making her give a light moan in response. "So, I guess that I should follow through on my promise, shouldn't I?" He asks her, before he continues to lightly nibble at her neck, while at the same time rubbing the skin at her exposed waist. As he continues, Yang places her hands on his shoulders, and keeps them there.

After a few more seconds, she starts to push his leather jacket off his torso, and he stops nibbling at her neck to help her as he tosses it lightly towards the shelves that are present along the long wall, before turning back to face Yang, and see her giving him a sultry look. Then, she slowly trails her hand along his chest, before unzipping his hoodie at an even slower pace, all the while having a sultry look in her eyes, while she licks her lips in a seductive way. Finally, the grey hoodie is off, and tossed into the clothes hamper on the other side of the room.

When this happens, Yang turns back around to find that Zach is giving her a smirk, before he leans forwards and starts a kiss between them, while at the same time he starts to unbutton her jacket. She returns the kiss, and as he continues to unbutton her jacket, starts to come up with a plan that has her mentally smirking. Finally, the last button is undone, and Zach helps Yang slip out of it, before tossing it towards his own leather jacket. However, when he turns back to face Yang, it's to see her with a hungry smile on her face, while at the same time she has a hint of lust in her eyes.

"You're mine, Zach." She says in a growl, before shocking him as she reaches up, and quickly removes her yellow tank top. The sight that greets Zach when this happens leaves him breathless, since Yang is now straddling him with the only thing containing her breasts being a tight, yellow bra, her breasts bouncing a bit when they get caught on her shirt as she removes it, before she tosses it aside. At his shocked face, Yang's smile widens, before she pushes him down roughly, and begins to unbutton his own shirt. While this happens, she makes sure that her breasts are right in front of his face, leaving him dumbstruck as she continues with her plan.

Finally, she gets the last button on his shirt undone, and practically rips it off him. This leaves him in his jeans and undergarments, everything else already off him and either on the floor, on the shelves, or in the hamper. She gives an appreciative hum at the sight, having seen his bare chest quite a bit over the past couple weeks, before looking up at his face, which had started to clear from its shock as his eyes make their way up to her face. "Why Mr. Mercer, did I surprise you?" She teases him, making him give her a feral smirk in response.

"You just might have, Ms. Xiao Long. However…" He starts, before flipping them over, succeeding in getting a light yelp from the blonde as she's suddenly turned onto her back on the bed, and looking up at Zach as he stares down at her. "Now that you're like this, I may just have a hard time holding back." He tells her, making her eyes turn a bright red as a hungry smirk makes its way onto her face.

"Well then, see if you can keep up, Mr. Mercer." She says in a sultry voice as her arms wrap around his neck, making his feral smirk widen as he leans down, and the two initiate a French kiss between them, Yang's arms wrapping around his neck, while Zach's hands rest on the mattress on either side of the blonde's head. After a few minutes, they separate their kiss, and lock eyes. Yang's carry a hint of lust in them, while Zach's contain just slightly less. Suddenly, Yang's eyes widen, before they close as she gives a quiet moan.

The reason for this is because while they'd locked gazes, Zach's hand had traveled to her breast, before he placed his hand on it, and squeezed it a bit. At her reaction, Zach gives her a smirk, and squeezes a bit more, making her give him another moan in response. "Are you enjoying this, Ms. Xiao Long?" He whispers to her, kneading her breast a bit as he does so, and getting another moan from the blonde beneath him, making his smirk widen. "I'll take that as a yes." He comments as he continues to knead and squeeze her breast, before leaning forwards so that he can begin to kiss her neck, getting more moans from Yang in response.

Meanwhile, Yang mentally curses the fact that he'd gotten used to the sight of her only being in her bra so quickly, since she'd planned on using the distraction to take control of their little "session". However, she's distracted a moment later, as she lets out another moan from the feeling of him kissing her neck, and subconsciously reaches up to place her hands on the back of his head to encourage him to continue. _Damn you Zach._ She thinks to herself. _You just have to know how to make me feel this way, don't you?_ She questions in slight annoyance at the fact that Zach was able to get her to like this, letting out another moan as her breast is once again squeezed, and she feels him smirk against her neck.

To Zach, Yang's moans are like music to his ears. And he's able to constantly hear them since he's kissing her neck, and her mouth is right next to his ear as a response. A few seconds later, her hands move from the back of his head, down to his back where she starts to lightly scratch at it, getting a slight grunt from Zach at the feeling. "Sorry." Yang manages to whisper to him apologetically, before she once again moans as Zach gives her neck another kiss, a smirk appearing on his face once again as he pulls back to look into her eyes, and stops fondling her breast for a minute.

"It's alright Yang. It just shows me how you feel. In fact, it doesn't really hurt. If anything…" He trails off so that he can place his mouth right next to her ear. "I like it." He whispers, making Yang's eyes glaze over at his words, before the brunet teen finds himself on his back with the blonde straddling him, a hungry look in her eyes.

"Well then, I guess we both like it even rougher than we previously thought." She tells him in a sultry tone, before leaning down so that her breasts are pressed hard against his chest, and her hands rest on his abs. "Which means that I'm going to have to show you a bit more of how _I_ like it." She whispers, before capturing his lips in a heated kiss, and her nails start to scratch at his abs, making him groan into their kiss as his hands go up to the small of her back, and pull her down onto him even more, making her moan into the kiss from the feeling of her breasts being pressed against his chest.

As the two continue, Zach's hands trail down her body, before Yang pulls back to let out another moan at the feeling of him gripping her ass, and then looks down at him to find a feral smirk on his face as he once again squeezes her ass, making her close her eyes and tilt her head back slightly to moan once again. "Well Ms. Xiao Long, it seems that I've found another weak spot of yours." He whispers, making her look down at him with glazed over eyes in response. A second later, Zach's own eyes fly open, before they squeeze shut as he lets off a groan, and Yang gives a triumphant smirk down at him.

"And it seems, _Mr. Mercer_ , that I've found another one of yours." She whispers in a teasing voice, since she's currently pressing her hips down against his own, almost crushing the tent in his jeans underneath. "However, I feel like there's a little… _More_ , that I can do to you." She whispers to him in a sultry voice, before she begins to lightly grind against him, making him let off another groan in response, and making Yang gain a hungry look in her eyes as her hands move down to his abs, and she sits up so that she's completely straddling his form, pressing down on his abs slightly to keep him on the bed as she continues to grind against him at a slow and torturous pace.

"Y-Yang…" He says in a raspy tone, bringing a triumphant smirk onto her face and a bit more lust into her eyes as she grinds him harder, making him groan once again.

"That's it Zach… Say my name… Tell me who's in charge…" She whispers in a sinful tone, grinding against him even harder, and getting another groan from him in response. While this happens, Yang's eyes continue to glaze over, and the feeling of power runs through her at the ability to make Zach writhe underneath her from what she's doing. However, what she isn't expecting is to suddenly find herself on her back on the bed once again, with the brunet teen in question looking down at her with a feral smirk and hungry eyes as they roam over her form, before locking onto her own.

"Now Ms. Xiao Long…" He starts, making Yang shiver underneath him from the low tone that he has in his voice as her eyes glaze over a bit more because of it. "I'm afraid, that _you_ are not the one in charge. I suppose…" He trails off, allowing him to lay on her a bit more, and make her moan as he crushes her breasts against her chest, while at the same time pressing his hip against her own. "That I'm going to have to show you that _I_ am the alpha of this relationship." He whispers in a husky voice, making even more lust creep into Yang's eyes as she begins to pant a bit from the feeling that he's giving her.

 _He hasn't even done anything and I already feel like this..._ She thinks to herself as Zach pulls back to give her a feral smirk. _Damn it Zach… You know just what to do… And I love it._ She thinks to herself, before her eyes squeeze shut as she lets off a long moan, the reason for this being the fact that Zach had started to grind against her, while at the same time, his right hand had gone to her left breast, and began to squeeze and knead the bra-covered skin. _Damn it… I love this… And I love you…_ She admits within her mind, before it clears slightly as she realizes what she just thought, and a few seconds later, she resolves to do one specific thing after their current "session" is over.

However, after thinking that, she's once again returned to said "session", and lets off another moan as Zach presses against her bra-covered breast a bit harder, and grinds against her once again. "Come on, _Ms. Xiao Long_. I want to hear that you're enjoying this." He whispers to her, before leaning forwards, and locking lips with hers in a hungry kiss, his tongue keeping her own in her mouth as he explores it, making her moan into the kiss as the pleasure that she's receiving from being practically dominated by Zach becomes even greater.

"And, I want to hear it for a while…" He whispers after separating from the kiss, making Yang shiver beneath him at the thought of what he means, before he once again starts a heated kiss between the two of them, Yang's hands wrapping around him, and her nails digging into his back slightly as he continues to pleasure her, the blonde loving the feeling, even if she wasn't the dominant one at the time.

Finally, after almost an hour of the two making out, they separate, and lay side-by-side on Zach's bed, their fingers interlocked between them. After a few minutes of silence, Yang finally turns to the brunet teen. "…Zach." She starts, making him hum as he turns onto his side to face Yang, who currently looks slightly nervous. This surprises him, since he's always known her to be the forwards, forceful, and confident girl. So seeing her nervous was a change. "I… Well, I just…" She trails off, making him frown a bit as he moves his other hand to cup her cheek, making her stop talking as he looks directly into her eyes.

"Yang, you don't need to be nervous. I'll listen to anything you have to say, you know that." He tells her quietly. However, that just seems to upset her slightly.

"Damn it Zach…" She whispers as she turns away slightly, before looking back into his eyes. "You're so kind like that…" She whispers, the hand that isn't interlocked with his going up to his cheek to rub slightly. "And that's just one of the reasons…" She trails off to look away once again, before turning to look at him, the confidence back in her eyes. "That's just one of the reasons that I want you to be my boyfriend." She tells him, making his eyes widen as he sits up in bed to stare at her.

"W-what?" He asks in shock, making her sit up as well to stare into his eyes. The fact that she'd gotten the words out making her more confident as she continues talking.

"I want you as my boyfriend. I don't want these times that we have alone to simply stay like this, where we feel something for each other, but don't actually act like that anywhere else. I want to go on dates, be a couple! Hell, I want to be able to kiss you, on the lips, in _public_!" She tells him, taking his hands in her own once again.

"But-but Yang… You know how I am-" However, he's cut off as Yang grips his hands tighter, and her eyes glow red once again.

"But that's just it Zach! You don't act like your normal self around anyone else! I don't want to be stuck in a loop where you're only able to act like yourself in this small room!" She exclaims, gesturing around the room in question in annoyance as she turns back to face Zach, the two of them unaware that the rest of the team was now listening from the door after hearing their "argument" start. "Zach… I want to actually be in a relationship with you wherever we are. Not _just_ when we're alone." She tells him.

The brunet teen stares at her with wide eyes through her whole reasoning, before lowering his head so that he's looking at the mattress. Finally, after a few seconds, he speaks up. "You want this to actually go somewhere. You don't want this to die out in case I can't do anything unless we're alone… Right?" He asks, Yang getting small tears at the edges of her eyes as she nods in confirmation, since she was honestly scared that they're relationship may end up evening out to simple "friends with benefits" if they could only act like they were a couple when they were alone. In response, Zach gives a humorless chuckle, before raising his eyes to meet Yang's.

"Well… I suppose that for you, I could give it a try." He admits, making Yang's eyes widen, before they fill with tears once again as she tackles Zach so that he's lying on his bed, and initiates another kiss between them. However, this one is different from all the ones beforehand. It's completely unlike the ones that they shared in their "sessions", and is instead more like the ones that she gave him that showed that she cared. However, this one has a lot more passion and love in it than those ones, and it stuns Zach at the feeling that it gives him.

After a few seconds, he manages to get over his shock, and wrap his arms around Yang as he closes his eyes, and returns the loving kiss as well as he can. The kiss continues for a few minutes, before the two finally pull apart, panting from the breath that they lost, while Yang gives Zach a smile that has his heart skipping beats in his chest, and makes him unable to speak. After a few more seconds, Yang gives him another kiss, this one involving their tongues which aren't battling for dominance this time around, before lying down on the bed, and cuddling up against him, the smile still on her face after he accepted being her legitimate boyfriend.

"…I love you Zach." She whispers to him, utterly shocking the brunet teen since until that point, neither one of them had said the L-word about the other. About the stuff they did, yes. But saying that they actually loved one another, that hadn't happened. However, despite his surprise, a large smile grows on his face, and he wraps his arms around her in a caring hug that has her giving him a content hum.

"…I love you too, Yang." He whispers back, making the blonde's smile widen as she cuddles against him even more, happy that she finally had Zach as her actual boyfriend. As she thinks about this, the back of her mind thinks about the naughty things that she's now able to do with him since they're actual boyfriend and girlfriend now…

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the door to Zach's room, Ruby squeals as quietly as she can to herself, before running around the girl's room in excitement as she talks to herself about her sister finally getting Zach as a boyfriend, and the fact that it means that Zach is pretty much her older brother now, and she just needed to wait until they got married. At the same time, Blake smiles softly to herself, happy that the two had been able to find love between one another. However, despite the other two girl's joyful feelings, Weiss simply frowns as she makes her way back to her bed, and lies down in it.

As she attempts to fall asleep while the leader of the team runs around the room in excitement and joy for her sister, the Schnee can only think about the fact that Yang had fallen in love with _Zach_ _Mercer_. A name that she'd grown up learning to hate over the past five years, due to the stories that had been told to her about him. However, to Weiss, they weren't simple stories. Instead, they were fact. The cold, hard truth. And nothing short of some kind of irrefutable video evidence would be able to change her mind…

Not even her teammates.

* * *

 **Author's Note Part 2: Holy plotlines Batman! I'll admit guys, everything that occurred from after Oobleck's class onwards was literally written in on the spot when I thought about it. So honestly, I have to say that I'm proud with how my brain is working, and the fact that I am now advancing the plotline in ways that I wasn't even expecting!**

 **Now, as for what happened in this chapter, most of it was simply canon with Zach added in, but I changed / added quite a few things as well. The first being the fight between Cardin and Zach. Now, when I first thought of it, I was simply meaning to have Cardin "know his place" when Zach beat the shit out of him. But, after writing it out, I actually thought of what it could mean, and now it could hold significance through this arc. However, I won't tell you exactly how it will. You'll just have to make an educated guess based on the info given in the chapter.**

 **Oobleck's class was also the same, with the only real additions being the fact that Zach was there, and actually reacted with Yang to what happened. Meanwhile, the blonde beauty has also been getting him out of his shell little by little over the past couple weeks it's been since his little "incident" in the Emerald forest. This leads me into one of the most important parts of this story that appeared at the end.**

 **Zach and Yang are now a couple! Yes people, I've actually been planning for the two to become an actual couple soon, but as I was writing out their little… "Session", I wrote in those thoughts for Yang, and realized that it would be a great time to write this in. So, from here on out, the two will bring their relationship to public-level. (And for those of you hoping for bumps in the road, sorry to disappoint you, but as you can see Zach is still slightly reserved around everyone else. So, there's no chance of him falling for any other girl.)**

 **And then the last part about this chapter, which is another one of the most important parts. Weiss and the fact that she knows about Zach. Yes, every shade around Beacon hates Zach for untold reasons, which I'm still going to not tell you about, but Weiss seems to know more. How? And Why? Well, you guys will find out soon enough. After all, as shown when Weiss blows up on Blake about the White Fang near the end of the first volume, the girl can only hold in her feelings for so long before they come out in some way, shape or form…**

 **Well, that's about all there is for the chapter, so let's get to my replies to the reviews that you guys left me!**

 **Enerjack:**

Thanks for the compliments! As for your topics, here are my replies.

1: Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I kinda figured that _this_ chapter would have been the one to put it over (With Yang pretty much being in only a bra and her pants), but, everyone has their own opinions on what's "M" and what's "T" on this site.

2: Thanks for this as well. As you can see, I've shortened the lengths so that the shortest time is half an hour, while the longest is an hour. I know that the longest time is still a bit unrealistic, but if you think about Yang's personality, this is really the best I can do for now, since I'm not writing out Lemons yet. Which, based off Yang, I feel like she'd probably go for a _while_ when she was "doing it" with someone… Like possibly most of the night. So to me, for Yang to have an hour of making out with Zach is pretty much the closest to a Lemon for now.

 ***Guest* (Rez):**

Well, I would, except that at the moment, I'm not quite ready myself, even if it's likely that Yang would quickly do so with someone. (However, now that I've had the two get together, there _is_ a higher chance that I might do it at some point soon… Especially with the fact that I'm gonna be writing in quite a few Original Chapters.)

 **TenWing:**

Thanks for the compliment! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last ones!

 **Anime PJ:**

Yeah, seeing as RWBY has the first few episodes over a few days, then skips a few weeks to the Jaune Arc, and then skips a few _months_ to the "Blake is a Faunus" Arc, I have a feeling that I'll be writing in quite a few Original Chapters, a couple of which will probably include situations like this since it happens monthly. As for the TT reference, I figured it would be a funny addition :D

Yes, another RWBY Fanfiction. However, over the past couple weeks… I may have thought up a few more than just that one… And as for being a Blake fan, yeah I can see that, but honestly after watching RWBY, I've pretty much started to ship her with Sun. Since to me, not only does it seem like it's Canon, but I feel like Sun is able to make Blake enjoy other things, and not make her obsess over every little thing.

As for your last point… I'm not gonna say anything on that. (You'll just have to wonder why until I tell you in later chapters…)

 **But anyways guys, that's about all there is for the reviews. So thanks to those of you who left them! And, thanks to the rest of you who took the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next time!**


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